Accidents Happen
by Sincere Disappearance
Summary: Yuuri leaves Shin Makoku to go back to Earth due to harsh circumstances. Wolfram follows him, but what happens when Wolfram finds out whats wrong, and how does he react? Never mind that, what about Yuuri?  Yuuram in later chapters.
1. Prologue

**Prologue

* * *

**

'Conrad, Günter, Gwendal and Wolfram.

I will be leaving for a while. Something has happened on Earth. Please don't worry. The Great One told me late yesterday night and I left whilst everyone was sleeping. I asked him not to tell Murata anything, please don't bother him about this. Ill be back soon.' -

Signed Yuuri Shibuya.

In the midst of the night Yuuri Shibuya was preparing to leave Shin Makoku. Not being sure of how Shin Makoku time worked, he was still sure that it was well after anyone in the castle would be awake. He wasn't meaning to leave so early, but something had come up that he simply couldn't ignore. The Great One had told him something he didn't, and probably never wanted to hear.

Whilst filling the Maou's bath he removed the majority of his clothes, only leaving on a thin white shirt and pulling on a pair of denim shorts. He stuffed his black uniform into a plastic box and pulled a plastic bag over it.

"I'll be back." Yuuri said, on the verge of tears. He only hoped what he had been told was not true, that everything was just as he had left it before. He jumped into the bath, wiping a stray tear from his now slightly pink cheek.

He was Yuuri Shibuya, 27th Maou of Shin Makoku, but he was also a human being.

He pulled the plug to clear away any proof of him ever having left and fell into his world, Earth, leaving his mazoku family with the best explanation he could, not having any idea of when he would return.

* * *

**A/N**

**I know it is short, but it's just the prologue. The following chapters will be much longer.**

**Please review, it's encouraging.**


	2. Yuuri's Disappearance

_**Chapter 1 – Yuuri's Disappearance.**_

It was early morning and the sun was making its way through the crack in the curtains as it lit the land of Shin Makoku. It shone over the face of Wolfram von Bielefeld, waking him from his slumber. He lazily opened one eye, closing it again when when he found he hadn't fully adjusted to the brightness. Reluctant to get up, he rolled onto his stomach. Oddly, he found no Yuuri there.

He stayed put for a few more moments thinking about where his disloyal fiancé could be, but his train of thought was interrupted by a small knock on the door. When he didn't move and no one answered, the knocking gradually grew louder and Wolfram groggily removed the covers and stood up from the sitting position he'd found himself in.

"Guess I don't get a lie in today, like always." Wolfram grumbled to himself, unsteadily pacing himself towards the door. Upon opening it, he found one of the castle maids on the other side, Lasagna to be precise.

'Ah, Lord von Bielefeld. It's breakfast time. Oh, I see you're not ready yet." She stared at him for a short while before adding "Have you seen Yuuri Heika? Conrad asked me to wake him yesterday night because he would be off on border patrol for another few minutes, but when I came to wake him he wasn't here. I presumed he would have taken a bath instead."

"I haven't seen Yuuri at all actually, I've only just woken up. Anyway, I'd like to get ready so I'd appreciate it if you left".

"Of course, your excellency." And with that she strolled away down the corridor and was headed for the dining hall. Wolfram turned back into his (the Maou's) room and moved towards the closet. He opened it and found one of his blue military suits, threw it onto the bed and began removing his night gown.

* * *

After fully dressing and feeling slightly uneasy and aggravated, he left the room and headed for the dining hall, only to be interrupted in his stride again.

"Lord Wolfram, your excellency! You don't happen to have seen his majesty this fine morning, have you?" He didn't know where Günter had appeared from, but right now he was stood right in front of him..Being asked once and by a maid, didn't strike him as worrying but if Günter hadn't seen Yuuri at all, who had? Had anyone? Yuuri had a habit of waking up early, being the energetic boy he was, but someone always knew of his whereabouts. He decided to respond by making Günter feel guilty.

"Yuuri is probably hiding from the likes of you, Lord von Christ." To this Günter raised his head.

"Probably?" 'He's as sharp as ever' Wolfram thought to himself. "You don't know where he is, do you your excellency?" Günter patted Wolfram's head reassuringly.

"Argh, don't touch me!" Wolfram hit his hand away lightly and proceeded to the dining hall in a worse mood then before. Behind him he heard Günter cry something, but didn't care for what it was.

Upon arriving at the hall, he didn't see Yuuri, but everyone else seemed present other then Conrad who was said to arrive shortly.. After their encounter in the hallway, Günter had disappeared down the hallway and he'd slowly followed behind, looking almost everywhere he thought the Maou could be. He headed towards his chair and sat down ready to eat.

A few moments later, Conrad appeared through the doorway. His hair was slightly damp. He sat down in his seat, and then turned his gaze over to the empty one next to Wolfram. He shot Wolfram a questioning look, as if to say 'Where is he?' but when Wolfram just shrugged and started to poke at the food before him, Conrad became sceptical. Apparently, Wolfram had no idea where his fiancé was.

Conrad then turned to Gwendal. 'Hmm, one more wrinkle then usual, something is definitely up.' Conrad thought to himself.

"I would like to speak with everyone in my office later. No exceptions." Gwendal said, answering his brothers unspoken question.

No more then a few words were passed around the table after that. They all knew what Gwendal wanted to talk about because there was only one thing out of place at this moment in time.

* * *

Before the meeting, they all tried to take up as much time as possible, not wanting to be first to arrive and seem eager. Günter went to study in the library for an extra hour, Conrad went out to issue the soldiers with their daily duties and Wolfram tried to work his soldiers overtime, hoping to arrive last with that as an excuse. He tried to ware out his mood on the soldiers to keep from lashing out later on.

It didn't work, and now Wolfram's head was starting to fill with images of Yuuri and where he could be. He felt a headache coming on and dismissed his soldiers. He couldn't train properly when he was distracted like this. He started to unconsciously head to Gwendal's office and even when he figured out where he was headed he didn't stop.

To his dismay, he arrived first and as much as he pushed Gwendal would not spill anything until everyone arrived. Minutes passed and Günter arrived too, gliding swiftly over to Wolfram's side after entering.

"Gwendal, I have had word from a patrol group that everything is under control else where, his majesty is our top priority and nothing is in our way." Günter flailed a little at the end of his sentence.

"Thank you, Günter. Please inform the guards to not let out that his majesty is not around, we do not want to attract attention due to this or any unnecessary uproars of panic."

"Of course" And then reverting back to Yuuri's obsessed fan added "Aah, your majesty! Please return to us safely. I do not know what I would do without you." Which earned him no less than a glare from the Maou's fiancé. Günter then left the room to get on with his order, whilst Conrad and Yozak entered and what seemed like not a second sooner Günter was back.

"Now, I must inform you all first that his majesty is well. Nothing has happened to him. He left a letter to say so himself." Gwendal picked up a small folded piece of A5 paper and unfolded the corner. "It says he has left for Earth to deal with something important, but that he will be back. There is also no reason why, but that the Great One has something to do with it."

"Give me that!" Wolfram growled, slightly more aggressively then he had hoped for and stole the letter from his older brother's grasp. He then began reading it aloud. "Conrad, Günter, Gwendal and Wolfram." He growled again, this time under his breath, reacting to being last on the list 'that wimp, he owes me for that one!' and began reading again. He read a little quieter this time, not letting his anger show. "I'm leaving for a while. Something has happened on Earth. Please don't..." He continued reading until he reached the end. "I'll be back." Other then the signature, that was all that was written. Conrad looked at him hopefully.

"Well, continue?"

"That's all it says, Lord Weller. Seems like Yuuri doesn't want us to know what's going on. Damn, that's just like him! He never truly says how he feels. And he can't even tell me!" He was about to storm out when Conrad once again spoke, and stopped himself.

"Either that, or he doesn't know the real reason why he has gone himself. I suppose we'll have to visit the Great One. I suspect that the Sage is with his majesty, he never leaves without him." Wolfram seethed a little at the last few words, and knowing it was true changed the subject.

"Fine, leave that to me and Weller. Brother, you and Günter can keep control of the castle in Yuuri's absence, right?"

"Of course, his absence has never stopped us before." Gwendal said, slightly harshly.

"Oh, but without his majesty's presence, it's so lonely!" Günter began wailing and when Wolfram decided he could take no more of it he demanded he and Conrad leave to head to the Tomb of the Great One.

* * *

_**A/N**_

**Sorry for deciding to end it there. I was planning on writing more, but ending it there seemed okay.**

**I do have more to write. I'm not out of ideas, :) I just want to wait a little before getting out what's going on.**


	3. You're Still Here?

**Chapter 2 – You're still here?**

The two, on their horses, rode towards the Tomb of the Great one. This tomb was well known as the resting place of the first - and what some believed to be the best – ruler of Shin Makoku. It was built in the earlier days, when the kingdom was only small and still developing and was built by the best there was back then. It was considered the finest workmanship there could be.

Both their eyes lingered on the site before them and as they got closer a figure came into view. The figure was slightly smaller then the average teenager and wore black, with dark hair, resembling the colour of a piece of slate. In the eyes of a mazoku it could be none other then the Great Sage.

As they approached Wolfram quickly abandoned the saddle of his stallion, landing two feet on the ground and ran towards the sage.

"Great Sage? But if you're still here-"

"Yuuri is alone, yes." Murata intervened. "I'm not surprised by you coming here, but in any case, what seems to be the problem?" That sly smile of Murata's swept over his face, leading the two mazoku to believe that if he wasn't in on it, he at least knew more of what was going on then they did.

"...What_ seems _to be the_ problem_?"Wolfram repeated the question in utter disbelief._ 'Did he _seriously_ just ask that? This could turn into a crisis, and what if something is wrong? What if Yuuri's in trouble?'_

"Lord von Bielefeld? I know Shibuya isn't here, but the castle has never faltered before when he's been gone. I'm sure you're just overreacting." Murata said, all to casually for Wolfram's liking. When Murata went to continue Conrad began to speak, whilst placing one hand on the worried boy's shoulder.

"Wolfram, the Great Sage is right, you need to relax. If Yuuri has gone to Earth intentionally, then he is surely OK." Putting on his all-too-friendly smile, Conrad tried to reassure his little brother, but that smile disappeared when Wolfram pulled away from his touch and ran into the shrine out of his and the Sage's sight.

* * *

'Hah! Now to find that damned Great One.' Wolfram ran through numerous doors, half expecting to be stopped by guards alone the way. It didn't happen and he was happier when he heard no voices behind or ahead. He passed several decorative paintings of ancestors and previous Maous on his way down a flight of stairs and into a small dark corridor. He'd been here before, the doors which Ulrike - the Priestess - would be hiding behind and also undoubtedly, the Great One wouldn't be much further then a few more steps.

He'd already concluded that he wasn't in the best of moods earlier that day and, not caring a minute for the silence around him, he burst through the large, wooden, double doors. He was welcomed by the sound of a timid gasp and the soothing sounds of rushing water from the waterfall at the front of the shrine, behind three medium sized boxes. His eyes fell on a small female and he walked slowly towards her.

"The Great One, where is he?" It was more of a demand then a question. A few seconds passed and it turned out there was no need for an answer as a new presence was felt in the room and no sooner had this presence made itself known.

"Angry are we, Lord von Bielefeld?" Wolfram just grunted under his breath. "You want your fiancé, don't you?" the Great One said, matching the slyness of the Sage. Maybe that's where Murata got it from?

Wolfram turned around to see a blonde haired, blue eyed, fairly handsome man. The Great One. It wasn't that he didn't like the Great One, but at this particular moment, he didn't like him. What was there to like about a person who constantly patronizes you? And every time this person sees you they silently enjoy doing it?

"Why did Yuuri leave?" Wolfram asked, bringing his tone down slightly. "I know you know. What did you say to him?"

"Now, Wolfram. That's a personal matter. I'm not sure his majesty would want you knowing such things."

"Why wouldn't he? We're _engaged_, he should trust me with everything and anything!"

"I understand your point Wolfram, but Yuuri needs personal space on this matter. It's not something you could fathom so easily."

"Then at least tell me what _it_ is." Wolfram almost yelled.

"..." He hesitated. Whatever this was, it wasn't good. From the hesitation alone, anyone would get that. "Ulrike, could you please leave a moment?" The Great One looked over to her.

"Of course, Great One." She did as she was told and left the room leaving in an almost dead silence. The room was dark, and the mood tense. The water seemed to rush faster, mocking the them both. The two were feeling uneasy and no one said a word. They stared at each other. One was waiting patiently – too patiently for his liking- and the other was thinking of a way to word the situation. The Great Ones mood deteriorated for a moment,and Wolfram saw what was, he thought, to be a look of sheer sympathy and sorrow. It was only there for a second, but he saw it. He was reading him like a book.

Wolfram began getting anxious _'What is it? If it is something bad then _why_ is he taking so long to tell me?' _Wolfram began moving towards him, itching to get an explanation. To his dismay, the Great One didn't move a muscle. When he'd finally had enough, he began to yell.

"What is it, dammit? Spill it! If Yuuri's in trouble, I want to help him. _You _were the one who labelled us _his _protectors, so shouldn't you also be the one to make sure we are doing our jobs? Who knows what could have happened? I don't think you understand at all! Yuuri could ... and he might not be able to and maybe, but if I..." Finally, Wolfram ran out of steam, his breathing became irregular from rambling, and all the running he did to get here... He fell to his knees, as the older man came closer.

"Please calm down, Lord Wolfram" His voice had become soft, and slightly lulled the younger boy's mind. "I supposed it wouldn't be so hard to send you to Earth, although being a fire mazoku it may hurt you more if we do not send you with others."

"...I don't care... If it's for Yuuri, I'll take anything you can throw at me."

"Is that so? In any case, I'll still have to send my Sage along with you."

"Like I said, I don't care... I just want to see Yuuri." Wolfram said harshly, but still a little edgy.

"My, aren't you a feisty one. Very well. Take my Sage with you and take good care of him whilst you're at it. If anything happens to Yuuri because of you, I will never forgive you, Lord Wolfram." With a smile on his face the Great One began to fade.

"How dare you ins-!"

"Lord von Bielefeld are you bringing anything with you? I'm sure you want to leave as soon as possible." Wolfram brought himself to his feet and turned to meet the gaze of the Sage. He had no idea of how long the Sage had been there, but Conrad was with him too.

"Wolfram, be careful. And bring Yuuri back safely." Wolfram gave Conrad a scrutinizing look.

"Why do you do that, Lord Weller?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Whenever Yuuri isn't here, you call him Yuuri. I can't say the same for when he _is_ here because you call him 'your majesty' every time regardless of him telling you not to. Anyway, that's beside the point." and then he turned his conversation to Murata "We need to leave. Now."

Murata obeyed. Wolfram in a bad mood was not a Wolfram you should mess with. Being the 'Great wise Man' that he was sometimes known as he knew better then to mess around, even if the Great One didn't. Moving his thoughts away from that matter, Murata motioned for Wolfram to follow him. They climbed up the same stairs they used previously to go down, through a long corridor and about three sets of double doors until once again they were outside. They didn't mind so much about Conrad, he would most probably head back to the castle and excuse Wolfram from the rest of his duties by filling in for him.

* * *

When outside Murata kept walking, blonde in tow. They didn't stop until they had walked about a quarter of the perimeter of the temple itself. They finally stopped in front of a fountain, in a quite open area, full of several unmaintained benches and a few flowerbeds scattered here and there. There were several trees too, but being the middle of winter they bore no leaves.

"We need a source of water to travel through, we can't just simply find ourselves on Earth. We'll use this fountain."

"Why didn't we just use the waterfall back in the temple? Would have been a little more convenient." Crossing his arms, Wolfram turned to look at Murata. "So?"

"We just have to jump in, Lord von-"

"Drop the formalities already, I don't have _time_ for this!"

"Got it, _Wolfram._" Murata shot a look at Wolfram then. "You're not bringing anything with you? Oh, and I suggest removing the jacket, it may become heavy from the water. "

Not taking another moment to think it over, he began removing his jacket. He threw it to his left and put one foot on the marble edge of the over-decorative fountain.

"We'll come back and get that, right?..." Wolfram asked. Just as he'd said that he felt something push him.

"Nope!" was the last thing he heard before he felt himself washing away with the water as if he were being pulled down the plug hole.

* * *

**A/N**

I'm ending it there! :) To know what happens on Earth (which will be the centre of attention in this fiction) keep reading!

:S Lots of dialogue, huh?

Review if you liked it, review if you didn't. I swing both ways, heheh.

\\Yes, Wolfram worries about Yuuri so much that he does think Yuuri could be in trouble a lot./

If you're confused because they went to Murata, they didn't. They went to see the Great One. The Great One recommended taking Murata, and that's how it panned out. :)

**Also, I'm apologising in advance for any abuse/hurt towards characters in later chapters.**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! :D  
**


	4. Filled With Darkness

**Chapter 3 – Filled With Darkness **

The next thing they knew, they were in a small bath tub. It was full, but the water had long gone cold.

"This place looks familiar..."

"Sure it does, this is Shibuya's house." Murata said, Wolfram just nodded. It felt weird to be in Yuuri's house without him there. It felt sort of like he was intruding.

The room was dark, and it appeared that there were no lights on outside the closed door either. Murata got out of the bath, dragging water out with him and grabbed two towels. He threw one to Wolfram and then started to dry his own hair. He offered a hand to Wolfram to help him out of the bath, but when he just 'hmphed' and turned his head in response Murata started to walk in the direction of the door. Wolfram watched him, and then followed suit. He threw both the towels in a laundry basket close by and followed the Sage out of the room.

"That's weird, this place is usually bustling with life. I wonder if they're out... Then why would the bath be full? Although I guess it was for Yuuri, supposing he wanted to come back any time soon." Murata also had no idea what was going on. The only reason he was on Earth now was that he was requested and needed to navigate the Great One's transportation for Wolfram and lead him where he wanted to go. The Great One wouldn't tell him anything either, even though he had pestered him moments before the two mazoku had shown up. Even Ulrike didn't know, that worried him further. The only thing Murata could do was hope that the Great One wasn't up to one of his schemes. He didn't want to watch Yuuri go through anything unnecessary just for the Great Ones entertainment. The Great One could be extremely cruel at times.

Murata opened the door to reveal a dark and empty corridor. It seemed to be fairly late on Earth. They couldn't really see, but when Wolfram was about to use his fire maryoku, Murata reminded him that they were in human lands and that on Earth it would be a waste of energy. He also didn't tell Wolfram that water travelling might change that and he wouldn't be able to control his maryoku until he was completely dry and had regained his full energy. That meant that he _could_ use it on Earth.

He'd travelled through dimensions using the Great One's power, those powers were now inside of him and would enable him to move through the two dimensions. They were only temporary, but they wouldn't disappear from his body for another few hours. Murata didn't want anything unnecessary happening; if it did it would just make things worse then they had already made things out to be.

* * *

They reached the stairs, tripping over a few plant pots and having to pick them up on the way there and attempted to descend the stairs to the ground floor. The only sounds to be heard was the occasional car driving past, the low hum of an engine passing by; not to close, but not too far. The lower story of the house was also entirely black and eerily cold. There were no light sources on, and it was too dark outside for the windows to be of any help, the street lights were the only source close enough, and they were on the other side of the street. They cast light over the garden though.

The next thing the pair saw was unsettling, not to Wolfram, but to Murata. Familiar colours came flashing before his eyes as the sound of a car came closer and closer to the Shibuya house. Red lights. The lights got closer, and closer and slower and slower. Murata had stopped moving.

"...Hey..? Hello?" Wolfram attempted to get his attention quietly, but it seemed the Sage would not respond. To his horror, the car stopped outside the house, parking in their driveway. Murata then moved as fast as reasonably possible in the dark towards the closest window, slightly parting the curtain and peering through the tiny opening.

It was a police car. The lights stuck out like a sore thumb in this darkness. The lights went off.

There was no other car in the driveway.

A tall figure stepped out of the car, and when he didn't immediately come to the front door, but the cars back door, the Sage became even more agitated. _'...Shibuya? What on Earth is going on. Why are there police in your driveway and where is your fathers car?' _He was so agitated that when Wolfram put his hand on his shoulder to get his attention, he jumped.

"What is it? What's going on outside?" Wolfram couldn't see over Murata's head and kept shuffling behind him to try and catch a glimpse. Murata's face had become several shades lighter and his gaze never left the scene outside.

The police man headed towards the back door of the car, opening it to reveal a woman. The policeman held her hand and helped her out of the car when a policewoman stepped up behind the first and started to ask him a question. What was said, Murata didn't know. The first turned back to the car and shuffled to the opposing side of the car.

The woman that had been helped out of the vehicle earlier was now being consoled by the female officer. She was shaken up, that much was true. He was anxious, he wanted to know what was going on. What _was_ going on?

Wolfram could only stand there with a lost look on his face. There were bright lights, a confused, and scared looking teenager, and he didn't understand any of it. He had given up on various attempts at attracting the Sage's attention and decided he would wait until whatever trance he was under to pass.

The male officer, who was now inside the left door at the back of the car seemed to be unbuckling someone. When he emerged carrying a boy in his arms, Murata paled two more shades.

The boy was Yuuri.

The woman was his mother.

The women were now getting closer to the house and were nearing the front door when Murata finally grasped that being in the Shibuya house when no one was home might not be the best situation to be in right now and the risk of being caught was actually worse because the police were there.

"Wolfram," He whispered. " We need to hide, lets go upstairs until the police are gone. If they see us we will get in trouble." To that, Wolfram was brought back to reality from being lost in his thoughts. The look on Murata's face made him decide not to question what this situation was. He nodded quickly. Just as they heard the lock on the door go, Murata grabbed Wolfram's arm and pulled both of them upstairs into the nearest room just before the lights were switched on. The room was Shouri's.

Upon entering the room they had decided to leave the door slightly ajar. They wanted to hear what was being said.

* * *

The door opened and the boys could hear faint talking. A woman's quite sobs were also heard. They couldn't hear any definite words, and decided not to ponder on what was actually going on until they could talk to Jennifer properly. Another voice was heard, this time it was distinctively male. The sounds were muffled by the door they were hiding behind, making them unsure of anything being said.

"Wolfram. I need you to remain absolutely calm, despite what has happened." Murata started quietly. His voice was shaky.

"Wait, what?" Wolfram said, but he knew better then to yell when they were hiding and kept it to a loud whisper. "What do you mean 'What has happened?'"

"I'm not sure what's going on. Yuuri is down there though."

"..I didn't see him anywhere..."

"He was carried out of the car by one of the officers." Murata was struggling to keep his own voice calm and trying to keep as quiet and as hidden as he could possibly achieve. Wolfram wasn't helping.

"Carried? That wimpy, cheating lout! I won't toler-" Wolfram stood up rapidly and was about to pull the door handle when he felt something grab his shirt and pull him lightly back down to the crouching position they were in on the floor.

"Wolfram!" A harsh whisper came from Murata's mouth. "Yuuri is unconscious! That's why he was being carried. Don't do anything rash. If they find us we'll be in trouble for being here. Two young looking boys unaccompanied in an empty house at night isn't something they take lightly here. They'll think we're criminals. And I'm sure Yuuri's fine. They wouldn't have carried him otherwise."

Wolfram could do nothing but stare at Murata for the next few moments that passed. He didn't know how to respond to that. He wasn't familiar with Earth's society's views other then how they commonly viewed a relationship between two men. He was all to familiar with that one. The one and seemingly only excuse Yuuri had for not showing or returning any slight affection to Wolfram, but he fully understood what Murata was saying.

* * *

"Ma'am, I'm sure everything will be okay. We've had word that the ambulance has already arrived at the hospital, but we haven't heard of their condition." The policeman said sympathetically. The unconscious boy shifted in his arms a little. "Ah, he seems to be waking." The man walked over to the sofa and gently placed the sleeping boy onto the couch.

The boy's face was slightly red. It was slightly wet and tear stained from the his previous crying. He'd finally worn himself out and fallen asleep on the way home in the police car. He felt weak. He hadn't eaten in several hours. He was uncomfortable, even in his sleep. He was squirming around and almost fell off of the sofa.

Miko turned to her sleeping son and smiled as much as she could in this state. She had also been crying, not only because she was unsure of what to do, but for how much her son would have to suffer if the worst were to happen. She delicately moved over to where he youngest son was deep in dreams, he looked pained. Despite being asleep, his mind was not fully a rest. She placed a hand on his forehead and slowly laced it through his hair.

"..It'll be alright, Yuu-chan..." She gave him a light kiss on the head and stood back up, leaving her gaze still on her son. "Thank you, officers. I appreciate the ride. It's late and I think I should put him to bed... I just hope hope he's okay in the morning."

"Of course. We shall get out of your way now, ma'am. We have to get back to our duties, but we wish you well. I hope everything takes a turn for the better." The officers disappeared out the front door, but Miko's eyes still lingered on her son. "Better get you off to bed, it's been a long day for both of us." She whispered to herself.

Being stronger then she looked, Miko took his body into her arms and carried him, with ease, up he stairs. He was especially light today. She stood in front of his bedroom door and carefully opened it. She entered the room, but left the lights off and slowly closed the distance between her and the bed. She lay Yuuri down on it and gave him another kiss on the forehead. A tear slide down her cheek. All she could do now was hope. Silently hope for their safe return.

* * *

The door of Shouri's room was now slightly more ajar as a nose poked out to see if anyone was around.

"I think it's clear. We'll head back into the bathroom and pretend we just got here. Okay?" Murata didn't notice that Wolfram had already somehow opened the door and was making his way down the corridor towards Yuuri's room.

"Mama..?" Wolfram quietly called out for Miko, she knew he addressed her as she requested because he always wanted to be respectful to his soon-to-be relatives. He edged closer to Yuuri's room, but stopped when a woman came out. He could see the tears streaming from her eyes. "Miko?" She turned to look at him.

"...Wol-chan...?" She was surprised, to say the least. His face lit up in realisation.

"Is Yuuri okay?" He asked hurriedly.

"..Yuuri's fine, he's not eaten all for a few hours, but right now...he needs sleep more than anything..." Miko was talking slowly, her head bowed. She was trying not to let her emotions get in the way.

"...Are you okay?" That question set her off. She broke down on the spot. Wolfram hurried to her side. Tears streamed down her eyes, she couldn't speak. "Could you tell me what's wrong?" He wiped a stray tear away with his thumb, and hugged the woman, trying to soothe her and calm her. It worked somewhat, and she forced a smile. She was about to open her mouth to speak, when a shadow came closer. She looked up.

"..Ken-chan..? It was all she could say. New tears blurred her vision despite her attempts to will them away. Wolfram gave Murata an odd look.

"Murata, could you please go fetch some tissues." Wolfram said, a bit more sternly then he was hoping for. Murata did what was 'asked' and disappeared into the bathroom, emerging a few seconds later with a bundle of tissue in his hand. He didn't hand them to Wolfram however, instead he knelt level to where both the others were on the floor and looked Miko in the eyes.

"Could you tell us what's wrong, Mrs. Shibuya?" She tried to look at him, she really did, but the tears in her eyes stopped her. She opened her mouth, only to breath. It started to look like they weren't going to get anything out of her.

Wolfram started to help her up. Despite her strength earlier, she seemed to have become undeniably weaker; to the point at which she needed help. Once standing, Wolfram decided it was time for her to sleep and lead her to her room.

"Miko, you need to sleep. You might pass out, you look tired. Too tired. We need to get you into bed. I'll take care of Yuuri for the next few hours, you just sleep." They were in her bedroom. Wolfram still had Miko's arm in his hand and was leading her to the bed. When they were next to it, he pulled down the covers and pointed with a smile. "Come on, time for sleep. Yuuri's already asleep, there is nothing to worry about." Miko sat down. She didn't want to argue. She didn't feel like it and there was nothing she could say that would make him change his mind. He was telling the truth, after all. She hoisted her legs into the bed and laid back. The tears had stopped, but there was a headache creeping up on her. She closed her eyes tight. She slightly opened them when she felt a pair of lips on her forehead.

"Sleep well, Miko." Wolfram smiled, and with one last look he turned to leave the room. She could only stare.

"...Thank you." She said, it was barely audible, but he heard.

* * *

Wolfram flicked the switch and closed the door to let Miko drift into dream land. He was met by Murata, who was stood by the closed door of Yuuri's room.

"I know you want to see him, Wolfram." Murata said. That _sly smile_ was back! Wolfram blushed slightly; his cheeks turning pale pink.

"Well, he _is_ my fiancé. I'm allowed to want to see him." He folded his arms and gave Murata a piercing stare. Murata stepped aside.

"Well, I'd better get home. I need to see my parents, they are probably worried. Even though they know where I am. Good bye Wolfram, take care of them will you? By the look of Miko's state, something big is going on." By the last line, he was already making his way through the hallway.

"I will." Was all Wolfram said before disappearing behind the door of his sleeping fiancé.

The room was cast in shadow, like the house had been. It was quite unnerving. The only sound to be heard was the heavy, uneasy breathing of the boy before him. _His_ fiancé. _His_ Yuuri. Remembering how he'd calmed Miko earlier, he walked over slowly to Yuuri. Somehow, it was different with him. He knelt down. Yuuri rolled in the bed, facing him unintentionally. His eyebrows were furrowed, and it looked as though he was frowning. His hair half covering his pale face. Wolfram ran his hands through the jet black locks. He drew closer.

He placed one hand on Yuuri's cheek. It was slightly colder then he'd imagined. A slow green light emitted from his hand. Wolfram's eyes widened. _'On Earth, but how?' _He pushed the questions to the back of his mind when it was apparent that the frown on his fiancé's face was replaced by a calmer look of contentment. Wolfram smiled. He didn't care how he'd used his maryoku. That didn't matter as long as he had Yuuri.

He knelt closer and moved his hand. When he was close enough, he closed the distance and placed a light kiss on his fiancé's lips. His smile grew when a look of satisfaction washed over the boy's face. _'Even a wimp in his sleep.'_ He stood up and left the boy alone to ponder in his dreams.

He closed the door slowly, watching as light seeped away from the room.

Little did he know that when the light left there was only darkness; when others leave, that there is only yourself.

Even in his sleep, Yuuri subconsciously knew it better then Wolfram, though he didn't know it when her was awake.

The light left. There was darkness.

Wolfram left. There was nobody.

Nobody but himself in the dark.

* * *

**A/N**

**Whew, that took longer then I thought it would to write. I'm not the best writer ever, I actually think I'm one of the worst, haha! At least I don't get writers block often.**

**The theme of this chapter is darkness. I think you probably guessed that. Which leads me into the next chapter. :)**

**Also, I have exams next week and the week after. Aah! Wish me luck? **

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't, both ways I get attention. :D**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Next chapter coming soon.**

**Disclaimer : I DO own Kyou Kara Maou, except for the characters, the story line, the songs and everything else to do with it.**


	5. Sounds in the Night

**Chapter 4 – Sounds in the Night**

It was completely dark; maybe not inside the car, but nothing could be seen clearly on the other side of the windows. It was completely quiet; nothing could be heard other then the low hum of the engine. The car was bitterly cold, and there were no blankets near by. It was blatantly mid-winter. He felt like he would freeze any minute. Was the heating on? Yuuri looked around and started to take note of his surroundings.

Shoma was in the drivers seat and Shouri the passengers. The only light around was coming from the cars head lights. The road to each side could not be seen, but in front there was a grey trail leading into the night. There was a ghostly fog about.

Now that he thought about it he could hear words! It seemed the two men in the front were chatting quietly. Yuuri didn't move, his gaze glued to the two before him.

Suddenly, the car jolted to one side, the sound of squealing tires was heard but it stopped as suddenly as it had started. Shoma had stopped the car.

"Are you alright, son?" He asked, concern sprouting from the edge of his voice as he turned to look at the man adjacent to him. Yuuri didn't answer. He was too awestruck. It didn't matter though, because after Shouri answered with a 'that was nothing dad, you're over-exaggerating.' everything went quiet again. But this time, deadly quiet. Yuuri couldn't even hear the engine any more. He felt frozen, the cold getting the best of him. It was probably just an icy patch on the road, nothing to worry about, right?

He turned his line of vision to the outside world. There was nothing to be seen. He wasn't sure where they had been; where they were going or of what time it was, he couldn't read the time well from his seat behind his dad. It was strangely blurry.

He must be falling asleep. Darkness crept over him and his eyes slowly drifted shut.

Something hit the window. The force was enough to wake Yuuri up because his eyes shot open. Still, he could see nothing more than the interior of the car

The next thing he felt was another jolt and his eyes met the back of his fathers head. Surprisingly, he was the only one who reacted this time. No one else was at all phased. Worryingly though, the car didn't stop this time. It kept going. There were bumps in the road. No one said anything.

_'Was the road always this bumpy?'! 'Why are we going so fast?' _

The quiet was eerie. Not a word was said. The car was the only sound, rolling over who knows what? But then he recognised another sound. Someone lightly snoring. He turned to look at his brother. Sure enough, he was sound asleep. '_Who could sleep with a ride like this?' _Yuuri thought to himself. That still didn't answer why Shoma wasn't reacting, but Yuuri couldn't see his dad's expression.

The jolting of the car was getting harder. The car slid to the left. Then the right. Then a bump. It seemed continuous, and a pain was growing in Yuuri's back. He looked down at himself. He was as pale as a snow. Was the cold affecting him _that much_? Was he really that pale? He was so pale it wasn't even natural, like a ghost of some sort.

The jolting was getting even more violent, so violent that Yuuri was beginning to question whether they had gone off road or not. The latter he would prefer.

Then his eyes hit it.

There was a wall.

And the car was going to hit it too!

They were about to crash!

"Dad!"

* * *

Yuuri bolted up in bed. There was a fresh, cold sweat covering his forehead. His breathing was heavy. His vision was slowly coming to him and he gazed in all directions.

He was in his room.

He let out a sigh of relief. _'Just a dream.' _He couldn't help but let out a little smile at that. Everything that had happened was just a dream.

But then, why did it feel so real? Why did it feel like he was there?

He pushed the covers off himself and dragged his body out of bed sluggishly. He didn't have much energy, but he didn't want to go back to sleep in fear of the same dream occurring. It scared him and he would admit that any day. If he was completely honest, he would love to never have that dream again.

His body ached a little and it left him wondering just how much he had rolled around and moved in his sleep. At first, the sleep seemed pleasant. He was just lying there, asleep. No dreams, no nightmares, no nothing.

The room was warm, comforting to say the least. There was an odd silence though. He decided it would be nice to get a cup of warm milk then try to go back to sleep. If that didn't work he would stay up and watch some TV. It was Saturday, so no school tomorrow, meaning there was no need for an early night.

He tiptoed slowly over to the door. Hand on handle, he opened it and stepped out. The corridor light was on, and the heating must have been left on because the house was warmer then normal at this time. Then again, what time is it? Yuuri hadn't thought to look at the clock positioned right next to his bed. But that was pointless now, he'd just check the one lingering on the wall above the kitchen table.

He made his way down the stairs at the other end, but stopped suddenly when he heard a noise. It was a low grunt resembling that of a wolf. The lights were off downstairs. He looked out the window to his left. It was dark, too dark to see anything. When this immediately reminded him of his dream he span ninety degrees and practically fell down the stairs. He flicked the switch down at the bottom by the front entrance and made his way into the nearest door. It was the living room. And there was that noise again, but louder!

The first thing Yuuri thought was that it must be his dad back from the late night shift... Then he remembered that his dad was running some errands for the bank so the late night position was filled by one of his acquaintances. His dad was probably asleep in bed. He crept into the room. _'Shhs, Yuuri. Easy does it...' _He peered at all the walls at so many different angles.

Something caught the at corner of his eye. _'Aha! There's a blanket on the couch, it must be dad!... Whys he not in his bed?' _He stepped cautiously around the low coffee table, and then to the side of the couch, careful not to trip over anything left carelessly lying on the floor.

He knelt down to get a closer look...

Pale face...soft, blonde hair...slightly rosy cheeks...light pink li-

"W-Wolfram!" He shouted in a low whisper. The boy stirred in his sleep and rolled over, almost falling off of the couch. Yuuri put an arm on his leg to stop him, and lightly pushed it back up from where it was flailing off the side.

Unlike Wolfram usually would, he woke from his light sleep at the touch.

"...Yu-Yuuri..?" Wolfram's deep, emerald eyes half opened. He could barely see the boy kneeling before him.

"Wolfram, what are you doing here? How did you get here? Why are you here?" He asked hurriedly. Wolfram stared back blankly. His eyes were still half closed, so it was a surprise when he suddenly sprung upright,his eyes shooting fully open.

"Yuuri! Are you OK, what's happened?" Wolfram asked, concern written all over his face. He didn't remember saying anything weird or stupid but the stare he was getting back really wasn't convincing. It was a look of confusion, lack of sleep, anguish and the face before him was exceedingly pale. He didn't get an answer.

Wolfram looked him in the eyes. They were distant. They looked lost, as deep as they usually were, they were now solely shallow. They were filled with despair.

Yuuri's mind was empty, he felt as if he had forgotten something important. Something he _should_ remember but couldn't. Now why is that?

Maybe he wanted to forget it. Maybe he didn't remember what ever it was because he didn't want to remember what it was. Maybe he'd blocked it out on purpose. But now he was anxious to know what it was.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he realised he was being abruptly shaken. Wolfram's voice was now ringing in his ears.

"-ri, don't space out on me like that! You know how worried I am for you! Don't make it even worse!" Wolfram was almost shouting, he'd raised his voice higher on each statement.

"Shush, Wolf. I'm sorry." Yuuri's voice was shaking. Only slightly, but it was there. "Please, calm down. You might wake everyone up."

"Everyone...?" Wolfram raised an eyebrow quizzically. "..Yuuri, only your mother is home..."

* * *

Murata Ken arrived home a few minutes later. He was greeted by his mother and father, they looked a little uneasy, though their faces bore loving smiles. Murata gave them a casual smile in return.

"You're home early today..." Murata said, quizzical look plastered on his face as always.

"Yes, well we..." His mother started, but she couldn't finish. The words just didn't want to work their way out of her mouth.

"We finished early today." His father filled in for her, he was taller then her and had black hair with blue eyes. She had long blonde hair, but her eyes were black.

"Ah.." With that, he ran up to the stairs and disappeared from sight, barely acknowledging his parents' presence. The were left standing by the front door, which was then closed by Murata's dad.

"We'll have to tell him, Kimi." His father turned to look at the woman next to him, apparently named Kimi. Her smile fell away from her face replaced by a deep look of sorrow.

"I know, Hiro. It's just... Oh, I feel so bad for them!" 'Hiro' wrapped his arms around her. The woman didn't reject it, she fell into his arms. That's when a little girl, their daughter, walked in.

"Mummy, daddy. I can't sweep. I've had bad dweam." She had long blond hair, tied back in an untidy pony tail and big, blue eyes. She was holding a small, stuffed, pale yellow rabbit in her arms. It's ears draped down past her legs until they dragged along the floor.

"It's okay, Mayumi. Come on, I'll tuck you in, it's no good sleeping on the sofa. Kimiko, will you go and fetch Ken for me?" She was staring at the floor, but Kimiko nodded all the same. Her husband made his way up the stairs with Mayumi in his arms. Kimiko followed on, but they went their separate ways when they reached the top floor. Father and daughter disappeared into the child's bedroom, but Kimiko kept walking until she reached the door with a 'Ken's Room. Enter at own risk.' sign painted over the door with several stickers around the handle and writing. She knocked.

"...One second!" A muffled cry came from the other side of the door. Kimiko didn't move. She waited, and waited until she finally heard the door slide open. Murata had changed clothes; he'd changed into blue set of pyjama's with several ducks traced down the side of each leg. There was a big yellow one on his breast pocket and his hair had been brushed. If a person didn't know any better, they'd say he was read for bed. But that rosy scenario would only happen if his parents didn't keep bothering him. _Why were they bothering him anyway, what could be so important that they would be so cold as to deprive him of a much needed sleep? But what could be so important?_

Kimiko stood tall. She straightened her back and looked him in the eyes.

"Ken, your father and I would like to see you in the kitchen, as soon as possible. There is something we need to tell you."

"Why, where is he?"

"He's tucking your sister into bed." She was keeping the shell of a strong woman over her body, but anyone could tell that her eyes were lying. She was looking almost directly into Murata's eyes, but there was a slight hesitance whenever she got too close. Her eyes were dark, being black of course they would be but right now they were filled with emotion; She looked rather content, but there was the essence of sadness that was her eyes. They ruined the image. As the wise man he was, Murata saw right through this. He could tell she was unhappy.

While his mother turned to leave, he was quick to follow. They passed Mayumi's room and noting that the closed door they must have realised that Hiro had already left. The pair kept moving, and after descending the stairs they headed into the room that was the kitchen. Hiro was there waiting for them. He was stood in the corner, leaning on the counters; the oven on one side and an empty surface on the other. Where the counters ended there was a tall, white refrigerator. There was a window with two short, white curtains -keeping with the rooms colour scheme- draped over it behind him.

Murata stopped and looked towards his parents. Kimiko hurried across the tiled floor into the arms of Hiro. He wrapped an arm around her waist and turned his attention to his son. He didn't say anything because Murata had already interrupted the incoming uncomfortable silence.

"I'm guessing there's something wrong. Are you going to tell me?" His tone was dark, it cut through the silence like a newly sharpened blade.

"You see, there was an accident." Hiro started. He would have continued, but Murata had already decided it would be a good idea to ask questions and butt in whenever he felt the need.

"Accident? So why are you telling me?" He was being stubborn and despite him being in a high position in Shin Makoku, here he was just a normal high school student with no authority and that got boring to him. Life would get boring after living so many different times, and that's just how Murata saw life now.

"Actually, we're telling you because it's important." It was his mothers turn to butt in, and it was now blatantly obvious where he got his stubborn attitude from. "And that is no way to speak to your father, Kenichi." Murata just huffed in response. His father continued.

"Your friend, Shibuya Yuuri-kun. When you were at his place, did you happen to see his father and brother at all?" Murata looked up this time, surprise written all over his face. He hadn't, in fact, seen Shouri or Shoma. In any case, what did they have to do with the conversation they were having? Were they not just talking about an accident? Although they hadn't spoken any details yet because he'd butted in when they'd tried. Just when he was about to piece it all together, his mother spoke up.

"I'm sorry, Ken. We've had news that they were in an accident several miles out of town. Their car had gone off road when they'd slid on patches of ice. They are in hospital as we speak," Tears were emerging from the corners of her eyes. "We've been told that they are in critical condition and...that they might not make it. We were wondering if you'd seen them. If they'd been back home at all then they might be in better condition then we've been told...but..." Her voice trailed off and she felt the hold around her waist tighten as she was pulled into a hug.

Murata was speechless.

* * *

Yuuri just looked at Wolfram. Wolfram just looked back. Yuuri didn't know what to say to that. Where was everyone else? Shouri? Shoma? Where could they possibly be? _Wait!_ What about his dream, what if it had really happe- No. That's absurd. Dreams don't actually happen, that's why they're called dreams! He shouldn't be thinking about things like that. His father and Shouri are completely fine, they're just late home...

...Why would they be late home?

"Yuuri, please. Look at me! Yuuri! Look _at _me not _through_ me. What's gotten into you?" Wolfram's voice resonated through the silence. He was still sat down on the couch, and Yuuri was still in front of him but there was something different about the feel of the place now. The atmosphere had changed. The house felt empty and cold, a deep silence interrupted every time someone finished speaking. Yuuri looked like he was oblivious to his surroundings, and Wolfram could do nothing but stare, waiting for an answer.

"W-Wolf..? Where...where are they?" Yuuri's voice had once again become to tremble, seemingly more so then before. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes. He was eyeing the room continuously, seeing different details each time; attempting to avoid Wolfram's gaze. He couldn't look at him. Not when he was in this pitiful state. If he even thought to glance at Wolfram for even a second, he knew the tears would fall. He knew he wasn't good at keeping calm in situations like this. He was remembering his dream. The crash, and the way it had felt so real were starting to get to him.

Nothing good had ever come of his dad coming home late, but Shouri never came home late. Not once. He was the most organised person Yuuri knew, maybe more organised then Gwendal, though that was up for consideration.

He remembered the last time his dad had come back late. The way his hair looked, dishevelled and greasy. The way the red under his eyes clearly showed he'd been crying. The way the first few buttons were undone, leaving his shirt looking unruly, and untidy. It was only later that night that they had found out the reason why. His grandmother –his dad's mother- had passed away a few hours earlier. That was several years ago now, and Yuuri was only young but he still remembered the pain in his dad's eyes and how long it had taken him to finally keep himself from mourning over the loss. Yuuri had known his grandma, and the whole family had cried for her. That was the only time.

Fearing the answer to the question, Yuuri had an overwhelming urge to cover his ears, but he couldn't move. All the energy he'd felt before had left his body. He was rooted to the spot. He didn't want to move anyway. Right now there was no point in moving. It wouldn't change how he was feeling. He wouldn't be able to escape the truth. There was no running from your shadow. No running from something that could follow you everywhere without fail.

Yuuri just stared. He wasn't really looking at anything in particular. He was still. Completely still. Wolfram decided it was time to act, Yuuri wouldn't be like this if nothing was the matter. Yuuri was a naïve, childish, silly, incompetent, cute, smarter than he looks, amazing person and king in Wolfram's eyes. What kept Wolfram going was the constant smile on Yuuri's face, the constant reminders of them being fiancés because of Yuuri's careless but undeniably unintentional actions. And Wolfram planned to keep it that way. That was nothing in this world or Shin Makoku that could take Yuuri away from him other then Yuuri himself, but Yuuri had never tried to. That gave Wolfram the pleasure of always being by his side, silently grinning on the inside at the way Yuuri would turn slightly to look at him just to make sure he was there. Not that he wouldn't be. And right now he was surely there; he was not only by Yuuri's side, he was right in in front of him in case he wanted to escape, right behind him if he wanted to fall, and right below him if he had to catch him. He was the only support Yuuri needed, especially now.

Wolfram reached down and placed his arms around Yuuri's waist, gently hoisting him up on to the couch beside himself. The blanket was ruffled up next to him, he grabbed it and lightly pulled it over his and Yuuri's legs. He smiled at Yuuri, in effort to comfort him. He remembered how he felt not having a father and how he'd site at home worrying for his brothers when they were gone. He knew what it was like to feel that something was very wrong having witnessed many different tragedies in his own eyes and having them embedded into his memories. An arm went around Yuuri's shoulders and started lightly rubbing it soothingly, up and down in a calming motion.

Yuuri lay his head on Wolfram's shoulder, not having the energy to hold it up any longer. Not having the energy to stop the tears had started to flow, soaking and drying into Wolfram's white shirt. Wolfram just held him in his arms. The warmth between them lulled Yuuri, he was starting to feel the sleep seeping into his head. Wolfram could hear Yuuri's muffled, quiet sob and started to unconsciously whisper words of comfort into Yuuri's ear. Yuuri shuddered slightly at the tickle each time, but he did seem a little calmer at Wolfram's reassurances that everything was going to okay and that they would surely return from where ever they were soon, that they wouldn't want to leave such a wonderful family, especially Shouri who was always up to protecting Yuuri no matter what the circumstances, no matter what would happen to himself if he did.

He couldn't keep himself from still wandering what had affected his fiancé like this, along with his fiancé's mother break down in front of him and then his fiancé too. He knew Miko had an idea of what was going on, but he wasn't sure about Yuuri. Yuuri had asked him where Shouri and Shoma were. He didn't know. He had no idea. He'd only gotten here about two hours ago, witnessed the police talking to Miko, putting her to bed after her break down, saying goodbye to Murata and then finding a blanket and half-sleeping on the couch in slightly damp clothes. He'd been trained to half sleep in case of ambushes during long journeys and patrols while they were asleep. When he'd felt someone touch him, he'd reacted almost simultaneously only to find Yuuri kneeling in front of him.

He noticed Yuuri start to become quieter and quieter, and when he looked down Yuuri was asleep in his lap. Exhausted, Yuuri had cried himself to sleep. A small smile appeared on Wolfram's face. He shuffled to one side slowly, carefully, confident in not waking the sleeping boy. He lay Yuuri down delicately onto the pillow, feeling as though Yuuri would wake on impact if he'd put him down any quicker. He wanted Yuuri to sleep, but what he wanted most was for Yuuri to be feeling at least a little bit better after getting some rest.

Not being able to move from underneath Yuuri without disrupting his sleep, Wolfram made the decision to sleep next to Yuuri there. The couch was small, maybe enough for one person to sleep on, but two would be challenging. He once again wrapped his arms around Yuuri's shoulders to keep him from falling off. Yuuri wouldn't mind, they had slept in the same bed for several months now and he believed Yuuri had grown used to it.

No later had Wolfram too fallen asleep because of exhaustion of what he felt all was his power leaving his body. They both lay in a calm still sleep as two arms engulfed Wolfram's back tenderly and a smile came to the opposite boys face. This sleep was going to be pleasant, no bad dreams this time. No one has bad dreams when there's something there to protect them from the scare.

Nothing stirred in the house after that. The front door never opened. The two men who had been long expected to come back, to return home had still not made it through the door and it was more then likely that now they were never going to. It was only a matter of time before Yuuri, Miko and Wolfram found that out for themselves, as much as they would never want to.

* * *

**A/N**

**If there are any mistakes please, please, please tell me. Even if it's just a word, I genuinely hate having unnoticed mistakes. :/ **

…**I'm silently dedicating this chapter to a family I (they don't know that though) know who have recently lost their father. I didn't know him very well, but I know several of them and my sympathy goes out to them completely. I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to see them much any more, because they only lived with their father and their mother has kids of her own and I'm not sure where they are going, but where ever, I wish them to get better soon and good luck to them where they are.**

**21/01/11 : Anyway, on a much happier note, I will soon own the first 5 books of the Kyou Kara Maou manga :D :D :D! Number 3 is here ( I read it because I'm impatient -_-') but the rest have yet to grace me with their presence. :3**

**22/01/11 : There here :D :D :D...I've read them all now though. Time to crawl back into my cave...  
**

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't; your words give me encouragement either way. :)**

**...And just so you know, I _DO_ abuse the full stop button... 3 times regularly...And it feels good. ;)...**


	6. The Truth Hurts

**Chapter 5 - The Truth Hurts**

**

* * *

**He couldn't believe what he was hearing. All he could do was stand there gaping at his parents. They weren't too surprised either; they had expected him to take the news badly since they knew of the close relationship he had among the Shibuya family. Not long ago they were worried for Murata in his years of high school for belief that he had no friends. That wasn't strictly true, he had a few they just barely talked to him, that was until the day Yuuri had temporarily distracted the bullies occupying Murata's personal bubble. Murata didn't stir. His parent's expressions changed to ones of worry as they hesitantly -as if trying not to disturb him- stepped towards the boy.

Kimiko's arm fell from Hiro's waist, it then found it's way around Murata's body as she wove the boy into a hug.

"We know it's hard to contemplate Ken. We've seen you around with Shibuya-kun and we know you have a good relationship with him and his parents." Kimiko stopped. She was debating in her head whether to say the words trampling her mind. She eventually gave in, deciding it was only natural to ponder. "Does Yuuri know?" Her tone had changed, it now seemed higher but softer. More sympathetic. The question brought Murata back to reality.

"I... um... We-well, I can't say I know that. When I was at his house, he wasn't awake. H-he was being brought inside by police men so I presume he had some idea." Murata said, voice shakily being kept in control at the back of his throat. "His mother was- or had been crying when we got there. When we approached her, sh-she broke down into tears..." Murata's voice trailed off and the three were left in utter silence. He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't come up with any other reason. There was no way Yuuri wouldn't find out. That's the moment he dreaded the most. The moment Yuuri found out, would be the moment Wolfram found out, and the moment Wolfram found out... Well he didn't really know how Wolfram would react, but there was a clenching feeling in his gut telling him he wasn't going to like it. Then again, what would Wolfram do if he found out first? Would he tell Yuuri? Would he be able to? Did he have the strength to do that to his fiancé?

* * *

By now, Wolfram and Yuuri had woken up. Yuuri didn't seem phased at how close the two of them were. He'd lifted his body off of the couch and had quietly made his way into the kitchen. Wolfram had followed close behind trying to grasp a look at his facial expression. Yuuri hadn't said a word all morning and had just lay awake staring at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. Wolfram wasn't worried as much as he was last night; A calm Yuuri was an easy Yuuri to deal with. But, regardless of that, Wolfram was already bracing himself for anything else that might happen. He remembered a saying Conrad had once used; it was something like 'the calm after the storm' ...or was that before? It was because of that he was bracing himself for something else, something more. Yuuri was too calm for Wolfram's liking.

Studying Yuuri still, he casually walked around the kitchen table to the refrigerator and found a carton of milk. It was one of the only things that tasted remotely similar to the tastes of anything in Shin Makoku and it was one of the only drinks he was comfortable enough with that he would actually consume. Earth -_human_- food had never been one of his favourites, it hadn't even been close. Wolfram had made a pact with himself to only eat it when entirely necessary and that other than being unwillingly force fed he would never eat the foul stuff himself. Yuuri didn't care so much for Wolfram's taste in food, all Yuuri cared was that he was eating properly even though right now Yuuri could seemingly care less as Wolfram -who was drinking from a glass he'd found in one of the cupboards- watched him longingly gaze out of the nearest window. The sun was rising and the room started to get lighter.

Shouri and Shoma had never come home. Wolfram didn't know what to think. Yuuri wasn't helping at this moment either and no matter how many times he'd spoken Yuuri's name today, Yuuri had been unresponsive and just looked at him. Staring the whole time. There had to be a reason for all of this. Things didn't just 'happen'; people don't just 'happen' to be late, do they? No one was ever late around him, in most cases people tended to appear earlier than expected instead of later. That didn't matter though. As Wolfram thought it over, he realised something. What Shouri and Shoma were wasn't late, it was more then that. There was something Yuuri wasn't telling him, and knowing Miko was asleep when he last checked he knew he wasn't getting an explanation from either of them thus far.

It was because of the quiet that the phone ringing had startled them both. Yuuri ripped his gaze from the window and headed over to the nearest phone. It was placed on the side next to the fridge. He picked it up and begrudgingly spoke into it.

"...Hello?" His voice was hoarse from his lack of hydration. He stood waiting for a reply.

"Yuuri?" Murata was on the line.

"Hey..."

"Hey. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Yuuri's voice -which was sounding very monotone- rang in Wolfram's ears as he listened carefully to what the two were talking about.

"Oh, well I just thought...because-"

"Yuuri!" Wolfram made sure he'd yelled it just loud enough to grab Murata's attention but not enough to wake Miko up.

"Oh, I hear Wolfram's still there."

"...Apparently so." Yuuri replied with a loss of enthusiasm evident in his words. He didn't know how Murata could have known Wolfram was there, but he lost his train of thought when he heard Wolfram's voice once again.

"Sorry, Yuuri, but could you please pass me the phone?" Wolfram knew how phones worked because he'd asked about them last time here was here. He wanted to know what that 'thing' was the Yuuri was pratically sticking in his ears.

"...Hn, sure. Take it." Yuuri, too tired to put up a fight over it, handed the phone over and slumped back on the couch. He pulled the blanket back over himself effortlessly and lay down once again. He didn't care what was going on, he was just extremely uncomfortable.

With a glance to his side because he could hear nothing he found that Wolfram had left the room. It didn't strike him as important. And Wolfram must have had his reasons so Yuuri lay back down and was asleep in seconds.

* * *

"Murata, have you heard anything?" The slight hesitance to say anything coming from the receiver made Wolfram stir somewhat and Murata heard his shuffling.

"I have. You're not going to like it Lord Bielefeld I suggest you brace yourself. Where is Yuuri?"

"He's back in the other room," He stole a quick glance at his fiancé only to find the boy sleeping. '_Thank Shinou it's a peaceful sleep.' _Wolfram though to himself before turning his attention back to Murata. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"Wolfram." The voice on the other end blatantly did not want to say anything. It was an awkward moment and Wolfram was starting to lose his temper. "Wolfram. I don't know how you are going to react to this, but please, I don't want you to be alarmed."

"Yes, yes. Tell me?" Wolfram said, gaining more control over his emotions.

"Yuuri's brother and father...They're gone."

"I know, they aren't here." Murata's voice became calm, but without a doubt deep.

"No, Wolfram von Bielefeld. They're dead." Nothing else need be said. It didn't take a fool to realise what Murata had just said. How was he supposed to reply to that? What was he supposed to say? How could they be _dead_?

"H-how?" Was all Wolfram was able to let out.

"They passed away this morning. Their car had gone off road and hit a small wall. At the speed they were going the car flipped and landed on it's top. They were still alive when they were found but passed away this morning. Wolfram, does Yuuri know?"

"O-oh, not that I know of." Wolfram didn't know what to do. How will Yuuri react to this? He'd witnessed Yuuri just being worried about them, and that was bad enough. Why did _this_ have to happen? When Yuuri woke up, Wolfram knew he wouldn't know what to say. He wouldn't know how to be around Yuuri. Would he accidentally hurt him by saying something?

He never once though to ask Murata how _he_ knew.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Someone was speaking inside of the small room in the hospital, but it was very quietly. Almost a whisper. Almost inaudible.

"We'll have to take his soul and put it in to someone else. Right now, I believe that is our only option. We'll need to find someone else of mazoku blood, a new born. I'll leave you in charge of that, Rodriguez." A deeper voice said. "Enough of business talk. Right now, that is not our biggest problem. What about Jennifer and Yuuri?"

"They were taken home after being called in to the police station. Yuuri didn't look so good after they left, though. He was pale and he didn't eat any of the food they offered him. We don't know anything else right now except that they've been told they are in hospital. In critical condition. They don't know about their deaths."

"Well then men," A woman's voice erupted into the conversation. "How do we tell them?" The woman's voice changed, it became more compassionate. She had never known the pain you would feel to lose a loved one, let alone two in one night. And Yuuri's only a child, how is he going to react? His over-protective brother gone? His father who had loved him every day of his life? Yuuri was going to have it pretty hard. On Earth there was no one else for him to turn to other then them, but who will he go to now?

* * *

Wolfram put the phone down. He'd had enough. He didn't want to hear anything else. He hated Earth travel, and now he hated it tenfold. He made his way into the living room and over to Yuuri's side. Yuuri hadn't moved at all in his sleep and was still lying the same way as he was earlier. Wolfram raised his hand and moved a few of the black locks out of the boys line of vision.

Two eyes fluttered open at the touch. Wolfram retracted his hand.

"W-wolf?" A tear ran down Yuuri's face, escaping from his eye. He'd had that dream again. He'd fallen asleep and had _that dream_ again. The dream he'd wished would never return. And why when Wolfram was here? He'd look so weak. He'd look so defenceless. The king of Wolfram's country, like this? Why did Wolfram have to be here?

Yuuri clenched his eyes shut together as tight as he could, willing himself not to cry. Hoping the tears would leave him alone. But he was tired and weak and they just kept coming. He hadn't eaten anything in the last twenty four hours and his sleep had been limited to just three, that dream waking him up each time. How was he supposed to sleep when he felt like this? He wanted to vomit.

"Yuuri, it's okay to cry. Let it all out. Everything's going to be okay. They'll come back." Wolfram's hand found it's way to Yuuri's forehead again. He was feeling for his temperature and found it to be warmer the normal. "Yuuri you have a fever, calm down. It'll only make things worse to overwork your body. Just relax." Yuuri nodded weakly. "Good. I'll go get you something drink." Wolfram stood after Yuuri nodded and went through the door to the kitchen.

He emerged about a minute later with a glass full of tap water -the best thing he'd thought to get- and handed it over to Yuuri. He reached up to take it, but his hand was shaking. It wasn't shaking violently, but it was enough for Wolfram to have to wrap his hand around Yuuri's to keep it stable. Yuuri brought the cup up to his lips, with help from Wolfram and started to drink. He downed the glass in one and started to breathe heavily.

"Is that any better, Yuuri?" Wolfram asked now kneeling on the floor facing Yuuri. He tilted Yuuri's head up to face his eyes. "Any better?" He repeated with the smallest smile on his face.

"Ye-yeah. Thanks Wolfram."

"Now," Wolfram turned his body round and sat down on the couch next to Yuuri. "Are you going to tell me what has you so worked up?" He was speaking to Yuuri softly. He didn't want to make Yuuri's condition worse but he also didn't want to make any unnecessary comments. It wouldn't be right to tell Yuuri now. The only thing he could do was wait. Wait until he wasn't feeling so under the weather. Wolfram would just do what he could. Do anything necessary to help Yuuri.

"Wolfram. I keep... having this dream." Yuuri was speaking slowly. But at least he was talking. It's always better to know what was going rather than to not know, that way you could try to reassure the person. Under these circumstances, Wolfram knew that was _a lot_ easier said than done.

"...Go on..."

"In the dream, I'm in a car. My father, Shouri, they are in the car too." Wolfram's eyes widened for a second but went back to normal afterwards. He had a feeling it would be something along those lines in the first place. Yuuri had been worrying about them and he would have been more surprised if it was something that was completely unrelated. "I'm in the car...but when I think about it, I'm not. I'm more of a ghost. It's weird Wolf. What if it's true?" Yuuri's voice started to get faster and more unstable as he spoke.

"What if what's true? Yuuri, you have to tell me before I can help you." Wolfram's hand then rested on Yuuri's shoulder as he lightly motioned Yuuri in his direction, letting him use his shoulder as support. Yuuri didn't move for the next few seconds, he found himself too comfortable to want to but he willed himself to continue. There was no way he would let the dream win over him or break him down. Having Wolfram here was more of a blessing, now he had someone to lean on without his father and brother here. Wolfram knew him well, why couldn't he just accept that? Yuuri then started to speak again. Wolfram just listened, he didn't have anything to interrupt with.

"I don't know what's going on, but it's dark. Really dark. It's foggy and you can barely see anything beyond the windows. They were talking to each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then..." Yuuri stopped. How could he put this in a way that Wolfram would understand? "Then...the car moved, violently, to once side." He settled for that, and when Wolfram showed no signs of confusion he carried on. "Dad asked if Shouri was okay. He didn't notice me, at all. I would have replied, but I was too shocked by what'd happened to speak. That was okay though, when Shouri answered dad just carried on driving. The car did it again, and then again. It did it so many times that now we were off road. Then...there was a wall and-" Tears started to fall from Yuuri's eyes as he was unable to control himself. Yuuri wanted to continue, he wanted to say what had happened, but he let himself cry. The tears kept coming. They wouldn't stop, but when Yuuri opened his mouth to speak, Wolfram stopped him.

"Yuuri, stop. You don't need to say anything if it hurts to much." Wolfram pretty much knew the next bit anyway. He didn't know what it had looked or felt like, but he was sure that Yuuri would have woken up sometime during that bit. He'd had his own share of bad dreams, Wolfram knew that when you wake up it's mostly because you died. But if Yuuri was a ghost, is that what had actually happened? Had he mentally seen the future? Did he dream it simultaneously to when it was happening?

Did Yuuri know it was the truth?

Wolfram subconsciously wiped a tear from Yuuri's cheek. Yuuri was in such a state. It was only natural though, and Yuuri only knew the half of it... How would be feel when he knew the full story? Wolfram had no way of telling him now. Not while he was like this. That would be cruel. But when could he tell him? It would always be cruel. To tell someone that two of their close family had died; to tell someone that they only had their mother left of their family of four? It was hard to think of a person heartless enough to be able to tell someone the harsh reality.

"Calm down, please. I don't like seeing you like this. It doesn't suit your happy face to cry. Look, I'm here for you, I'll be here for you the whole way. If you need someone to lean on, don't hesitate to use me as your pillar. I'm not saying this as your follower, but as your...friend." _Yes_, as that word Yuuri always used. But right now it was best to side with Yuuri and make sure nothing would leave him feeling any worse than he already did.

That's why it was weird that Yuuri had stiffened when he'd said that. He didn't say anything, he didn't move anything either. Wolfram was waiting for him to say something; or was Yuuri waiting for Wolfram to say something? Never the less, they both didn't say anything.

They sat there for another few minutes in that less then awkward silence until they heard a noise coming from the stairs. Wolfram was the first to react. He quickly pulled his arm back and shot up; Yuuri looked at him for the first time all morning.

"Mothers awake, Yuuri. You'd better go and see her." Wolfram ran his hands own his clothes, flattening them out. Wasn't it just a _great_ idea to sleep in slightly damp clothes? They had creases everywhere; then again it's not like he had a change to wear. Yuuri was still looking at him when Miko entered the room. Despite what Wolfram had though, it looked as if she'd had a normal nights sleep. There were no signs to show that she was tired or lacking rest. Wolfram took this as a sign that she'd had a better night than Yuuri.

Unbeknownst to Wolfram, she also had no knowledge of her husband's and oldest son's fate.

* * *

Wolfram was in the middle of a tough situation. At his age, he was merely the equivalent of a human teenager. He didn't want to be the one to tell them. He wasn't strong enough. He was trained to be a soldier. He was never trained to tell his friends what had happened to their families. He wasn't trained to be able to handle that. Murata may have been able to tell him, but Murata had been through various lives and had the memories to prove it. Memories he could have been better without. But many of those memories were close to this type of occurrence. Murata had surely told people of deaths of close family before. No one could understand the pain Murata had felt in each of his previous lives. To die so many different ways; to upset so many different people; to love so many and to lose so many. Did Murata truly feel anything any more?

Yes.

Because all he had were memories.

The feelings were long gone. The feelings he once had. Wolfram had never felt anything to be worse than the hit of a sword; the blade cutting into your flesh far enough to draw blood. But this -telling his fiancé along with his fiancé's mother about the deaths of their loved ones- had shown itself to be that. More painful than anything he had ever felt before. It may be something that others found ridiculous, the pain was not physical, there is no actual damage done, there was nothing to show for it. Nothing but your sanity was to be damaged. The sanity you once had would never be the same. And perhaps that's the most painful thing there is.

The loss of one's sanity.

Would Yuuri and Miko change after knowing? A family of four now cut down to a family of two in just one night. Changes happen, we all have to face that, but no one said it was going to be easy. Wolfram didn't want them to change. He loved them the way they were. There was nothing he would change in the life he was living. Except this.

If he could change one thing, it wouldn't be his fathers death, his childhood, his upbringing. It wouldn't be his brothers, his relatives or his mistakes.

It would be the death of his fiancé's brother and father.

It would be the pain Yuuri and Miko would have to feel.

The life they now have to live so close to being alone.

It would be the hurt they were going to feel.

The memories they were going to have of the two when they looked at each other.

Wolfram could ask for nothing more than to bring them back. But despite '_nothing being impossible_', bringing back the dead is impossible. Something humans know to be very true. Not only humans, mazoku too. Mazoku had lost many people during wars, due to old age and disease. There was no real difference of them to humans other than the powers they possessed.

* * *

Miko had a small smile on her face when she saw Yuuri and Wolfram. They were awake and Yuuri looked better than he had the night before. Then she remembered. Wolfram had helped her to bed because she'd broken down in front of him. She hadn't meant too. She was always a strong woman, but having this happen had made her weaker than anything had in the past. She'd never seen it coming. No one sees it coming before it actually happens. There was no way of stopping something that's already happened. The main thing was to move on and accept it, even if that's the last thing you want to do. Even if you don't want to at all. There's no way of driving around it. There's no way of flying over it and no way of swimming under it. Miko wasn't worried about herself. She was worried about Yuuri. She knew Shoma truly loved her. She knew Shouri would only be happy if Yuuri was okay, and truly she couldn't see any harm coming to Yuuri when he was with Wolfram.

Wolfram and Shouri had the same will to protect Yuuri, so much so that Shouri had once said he would be happy to leave Yuuri in Wolfram's hands. Miko was happy that right now, the reality was that as long as Shouri and Shoma made it out of this alive, all her worries and fears would leave her. Little did she know her worries and fears existed only to be proven right.

* * *

The hospital was quiet. After Rodriguez had phoned up Murata to tell him the gist of it, he'd started on his knew job. First, he had been told he was to find out whether Yuuri and Jennifer knew about the deaths. Secondly, he was to start a search to find a new Maou of Earth. The task would be hard, but with Shouri's soul, he expected the search to be easier. That is, if Bob could get a hold of Shouri's soul. Surely the doctors would allow him to. And lastly, he had to tell Jennifer and Miko what Shouri and Shoma's last words to them were. As heartbreaking as it must be, what they said was to be passed on. He would hate himself for years afterwards if Jennifer and Miko were not told the loving words meant for them. He'd never had this job before. He was just a doctor. He didn't expect he would ever work this close to families when he first took up the job. All he'd wanted to do was help people, was telling them their family members had died really helping them? Was he really that close to the Shibuya family? Would they believe him if he told them the truth?

After the emotional passing of both Shouri and Shoma, after they exchanged words of comfort to each other, and had spoken all they needed to they'd both passed away. Their injuries were too bad to be tended to and despite the doctors efforts on the scene and in the hospital, some of the injuries were too critical to be fixed. They were both close to their time, both close to slipping into the afterlife. And they knew that too.

They had both taken hits to the head, and were bleeding profusely when they were found. One of Shoma's arms was broken -his right- which he was commonly know to drive with and Shouri's legs had both been broken. Even if Shouri had made it out alive, he would have never been able to walk again. The smashed glass had found it's way into both of their flesh. Several pieces were removed from Shouri's face and chest, leaving him bleeding once again. He was then told he had lost to much blood and would need a blood transfusion if he wished to stay alive but had been told it would make no difference to his now useless legs.

Shoma had also been hit with glass, though the air bag caught most of them, it was popped and tiny shards found their way into his left eye, leaving him blind. He'd been told that he would never be able to see with it, though his right would remain in stable condition. That was only a small bit of it. He had concussion and was told not to sleep for at least the next half hour, despite the pain from trying to breathe when the glass was removed. He was tired, he wanted to sleep. The only thing keeping him from closing his eyes and falling into a never ending sleep was the will that his son, lying the the bed across from him was to survive. If he was to go though the pain of seeing his eldest son die and having to watch his younger suffer from it, he didn't know how he would carrying on living whils't holding that burden on his shoulders.

It was one thing to lose a brother, it was another to lose a brother and a father at the same time. Shoma knew that. The despair his loving wife would feel; the loneliness his now only child would feel.

But listening to Shouri's last few words, listening to what he was saying he knew Yuuri and Miko would live on. He knew they would survive with out them. They had each other, and Yuuri had many other people close to him.

Shouri's last words of "I love you... father." before finally closing his eyes brought him to tears. The energy wasted on tears now left him in a state that he knew would be his last. He was exhausted after dragging the unconscious body of his eldest out of an overturned car with one arm, he was exhausted because of his concussion and he was tired after watching his son die before his eyes.

That will he once had left him when he watched his sons body fall still and pale.

With that will leaving his body. His eyes started to drift closed while the doctors tried the best they could to keep him from sleeping. The best they could to revive the younger male. All attempts failed and they were only left with the last few words from the dying male.

"Tell my wife and child I love them. Tell them, I didn't mean to leave them. Tell them they have each other and should keep living. Tell them Shouri and I will see them soon, I'm joining my son now. He doesn't deserve to be alone. Goodbye...and thank you for everything."

Shoma's eyes never opened after that. And soon after, the room was cleared out. There was no noise in the room other than the low hums from the electricity. The room which had just lay victim to witnesses of the passing of father and son. Of the pain one father had to feel of watching his son die before him, out living his son and watching him die both at the same time. Then, passing on himself, his last words were written down and taken to the closest person to the Shibuya family.

They were taken to José Rodriguez.

**

* * *

**

**A/N**

**Yeah, I think I'm going to leave it there. Remember, any mistakes -even minor ones- please point them out!**

**I am so sorry for what I have done to the characters. They didn't deserve it. I don't hate them, in fact I quite liked Shoma.**

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't, I'll write more either way.**

**Review replies. (Thanks everyone for reviewing!)**

**Thank you everyone who added to favourites or to alert list! You've all made me a happier person!**

**Miyuki Meiru **

Yeah, sorry about the cliff hangers. I don't realise I end on them most of the time.

And Wolfram is so nice, right? No one is allowed to cry on my shoulder, my clothes might get wet. Hmph.

**Bii**

Sorry if you got a little confused. I do sometimes too, but I'm glad you like it regardless.

**IloveAnimeVeryMuch123 **(Beautiful name, may I add. It speaks for all of us!)

Thanks for pointing out mistakes, it really helps. And I'm never too sure of when I write things, they never appeal to me as much as I like them too. It's the same with this story. I don't really like it, but thanks for saying it's beautiful, it makes me like it more!

**Pikeebo**

I don't remember anyone saying Bob could heal, which is why I don't have him healing. Yuuri is another matter though, if you catch my drift. ;) If Yuuri's family members die, I don't think it affects his powers, just his will to carry on, so I guess your right about him being king. And we'll find out how they both cope through the story, sometimes it just writes itself.

**Jenni Miko**

I will have Yuuri doing something absurd and it's somewhere along the lines of that. Thanks for the idea! I had planned something like that in the first place anyway, and it isn't like Yuuri to not act rash in this situation.

**(Sorry if I missed anyone, but I don't think I did!)**


	7. In an Instant

**Chapter 6 – In an Instance**

* * *

The air outside the hospital was cold, condensation drifted out of his mouth on every breath as José Rodriguez climbed into his car. He was starting his third job. After starting his search for a new Maou by asking the hospital for records of any demon parents expecting a baby some time soon, he found there to be very few. It wasn't that Bob needed a successor right now, but if the time came and he didn't have one, well that would be a disaster. There was no way they were going to let that happen, so just in case, Bob was keeping monitor of the records from the hospital with his laptop. He would be sent a new record immediately to notify him of any changes.

Rodriguez's third job was the job he was most apprehensive of. He didn't want to do it. He didn't want to be the one to tell them, but who else could? Who else was there? He couldn't bare to leave it the job in the hands of a child, which in this case would be Murata, being the only person other than him to know. Bob had kept the incident private. He didn't want anyone unrelated to it knowing. So, no one else knew, meaning there was no one else available to tell them.

He put his key in the ignition and turned it. The engine roared into life, as did his mind as he starter to ponder on the best way to tell them. The thing he was most scared of was undoubtedly Yuuri's reaction. Yuuri was just a child. Being sixteen doesn't make losing your father any easier, nothing does. Being sixteen doesn't make losing your brother any easier. Being Yuuri wouldn't make anything any easier. His life was hard enough as it is with his job of maintaining a country at his young age.

So what would be the best way to tell them?

Would it be best to tell them?

Well, it certainly wouldn't work to keep it from them. That would make things worse. The anticipation, the waiting, the disappointment, the hurt of not being told and then the realisation that they were not coming back would all be stretched for an even longer period. The quicker he told them, the earlier the healing process started. All he could do was hope for the best, though now that might be a complete waste as the worst has already happened.

* * *

He arrived outside the Shibuya house. The day was turning out to be a grey one, mist hanging in every direction decreasing your visibility. It might even snow by the looks of it. There was a chilling breeze. The trees were lightly shaking in the distance, moving in time with the brushes of wind at the doctors feet as he headed up the path on his way to the front door.

"I guess this is it." There was hesitancy in his voice, there was hesitancy when he went to knock, and there was hesitancy when the front door of the house slowly swung open.

He was surprised to see that in actual fact that there in the doorway stood, not a family member, but the blonde mazoku he had once known as Wolfram von Bielefeld.

"...Yes...?" Wolfram looked at him questioningly. He was slightly suspicious of this man, he was familiar, but he couldn't put a name to the face. And he looked like he had something he wanted to say.

"Ah, Wolfram. Are Yuuri and Miko home? I'm Dr Rodriguez, I've been told I have to inform them of something important." Wolfram froze. _'Something important?' _That wasn't something he wanted to hear. He'd met this man before. He _knew_ this man. This man had been there when they were collecting the last of the four boxes and had been working under...the _Maou of Earth_! That could only mean...

"Ah, of course you are. Come in." Wolfram shot him a small smile, but truthfully he knew what the doctor was here for. The smile on his face wouldn't be there for long, surely.

Yuuri was going to find out. Miko was going to find out. The house would be turned upside down.

Dr Rodriguez, looking less than confident, stepped into the house. It was eerily quiet and still. The house didn't have the usually happy smell of a welcoming curry, or the hurried sound of two brothers firing insults from one to the other. Not even the sound of a television could be heard. Rodriguez's heart started to race. This was it. He had to tell them. This just wasn't right. The house was wrong, different. The upbeat atmosphere the place always had was nowhere to be found. He wasn't even sure of where the house's occupants were because he was greeted by Wolfram.

Wolfram lead him to the main room of the house, only to find Miko hugging Yuuri on the couch. Yuuri's eyes were encircled with a dull black looking colour and he looked terribly pale. It was obvious that he hadn't slept. Miko didn't look as bad, but right now her eyes were red, as if she was or had been crying. It was clear that the small smile Wolfram had managed was all anyone could bare to manage in a situation like this. How could anyone smile at a time like this?

But now, he had to do the inevitable.

Four eyes met his figure as the two on the couch turned to face him. Miko stood up and stepped over to where he and Wolfram were standing, leaving Yuuri alone on the couch.

"...Dr. Rodriguez, what are you doing here?" She asked, the words slightly falling out of her mouth as her voice was slightly cracking. She _had_ been crying.

"Jennifer. I've been told I have to come here to tell you some news." His voice didn't falter and he surprised himself by being so in control. He hadn't expected that to come out so refined. He'd never done this type of thing before and it hurt to say the least. "Please, sit down."

"...Alright." Miko made her way back over to her son. She sat down next to him and motioned for Wolfram to come sit next to her.

"I...I'm not sure where to go from here. But this is something you must know." Rodriguez didn't know what to say. No matter how this came out, it would never be easy for them. It wouldn't change the fact that they were gone. All it would change was the two remaining. How much would it affect them? Who could say? They might be able to handle it, but what if they couldn't? "I've been told I am the only one close enough to your family to be able to tell you this news."

Wolfram started to fidget. He was very uneasy. He wasn't sure how this doctor was going to say it and he wasn't sure how Yuuri would react. Miko and Yuuri looked like they could break any second. Wolfram bit his lip, hard, slightly breaking the skin, but not enough for it to bleed.

"...By now, I'm sure you have noticed the absence of your other family members." He couldn't bring himself to say their names. Not now. Not after he'd seen them pass. He was there when it had happened. He'd seen everything. Shouri was so young. And Shoma had a family. These two good people should not have died, but what could he have done? "I'm really not sure how you are going to take this. I didn't want to be the one to tell you both." He bowed his head.

Yuuri's eyes were stuck on Dr Rodriguez's figure. He didn't want him to say it. What he was going to say was bad news, otherwise why would he not want to tell them? Why would he hold it off this long? Why is he stalling? _What is he going to say?_

"Just spit it out!" Yuuri's voice shocked everyone as he yelled over the looming silence. He was becoming impatient and it was getting the better of him.

"Yuuri, sit down love. Please, don't make this harder than it has to be." Miko said, not standing. She took Yuuri's arm into her hand and directed him back into his seat. There were no pet names, no small, cutesy addressing. Miko was serious. More serious than he had ever seen her before. She was a strong woman, there was no doubt. A strong woman who would do anything to protect the ones she loved. Even now.

"Thank you, Jennifer." Rodriguez said, and received a light nod before he continued. He stepped forward slightly, more focused on Yuuri than anything. Wolfram shifted. When was this man going to come out with what he needed to say? When was he going to say what Wolfram knew all too well? "I believe there is no reason why I should hide this from you. Miko, Yuuri."

"Your father and brother didn't make it."

Yuuri froze.

Miko's eyes widened and a tear slipped it's way out as she fell back into a seated position on the couch. She thought this would happen. She thought this was what he was going to say. She bowed her head, not wanting her weakness to show. Then she remembered. Yuuri. Yuuri hadn't said, moved, or done anything.

She looked up at him.

He was a complete wreck. His mouth was hanging slightly open; tears steamed down his face wetting his nose, cheeks and neck as they did. They dripped, one by one onto the floor as he stood there without an effort to move.

"...Yuuri..." Wolfram's voice, though quiet, smashed the silence. Yuuri still didn't move, but words came out of his mouth.

"...No...you're lying." Yuuri's voice was cold and it penetrated them like ice. "That's not true...That can't be true!" Yuuri's voice picked up the pace as he started to breath harder. His breathing became irregular, so much so that he finally had to move. He finally had too much energy. He had to run. He had to release himself from the hurt, stop himself from being engulfed by the things he'd just heard and passing out.

So he ran.

And he was going to run far away.

To somewhere that the truth couldn't hurt him.

"...Yuuri!..." The last thing he heard was a shout from Wolfram's mouth as he ran out the front door of the house and down the pavement in the direction of who knows what?

* * *

The misty weather was doing wonders to hide his figure as it was blatantly obvious Wolfram would try to follow him. Wolfram would find him where ever he went, but not this time. This time he wanted to be alone. This time, he didn't want Wolfram with him. This time, he wouldn't need someone to tell him '_everything's okay_'. Wolfram had already lied about that.

Everything wasn't okay.

If what he'd said was true, Shouri and Shoma are dead. How is that okay? How will that ever be okay? Where do you run to to escape that reality?

Can you run from reality?

That doesn't matter. Yuuri was running. Nothing was going to stop him from escaping. He'd escaped everything else in life. Surely there was a way to bring them back. They wouldn't be gone forever. Maybe he could heal them, that always seemed to work. If they were in Shin Makoku this wouldn't have happened. They'd still be alive. There was nothing that could hurt them there! That then raised a question.

'How did they die?'

Yuuri didn't know. Yuuri hadn't been told. Or had he? Did Rodriguez say anything? Didn't the police tell him something before they'd left the post office just yesterday? He was sure they did. He didn't remember. He couldn't remember. They'd died, their existence had just disappeared off the face of Earth in a matter of hours. How was that possible? What force could actually do that?

Then he remembered.

A force that Shin Makoku didn't have.

He remembered when it drove past him.

The sound of an engine rung in his ears. That sound. From that dream. Now it would haunt him. Now it could taunt him every time he heard it, mocking him. Mocking his failure to do anything. Mocking his failure to protect those dear to him.

He was still running, and so were his tears. They hadn't stopped. Choked sounds were coming from his throat as he tried to hide it. As he tried to stop himself. Running only made it harder. Why run? Nothing was chasing him. He would always know now. It's not like it would somehow slip from his memory if he kept running. There was no escape.

After realising that, he stopped.

It was cold. He hadn't noticed. The mist in front of him lurked in every direction. He looked up. Something hit him. Lightly. It melted with a tear and joined it in sliding down his pale, wet cheek. The sky was white. He looked to his right. It was as if nothing was really there in the mist. But Yuuri knew better. There was always something there. It's not things could disappear. It's not as if they could be wiped out in a night. These things weren't human. They weren't anything. They didn't matter. No one needed them really. Without them, what would change? Would anything change? Sure, there might be less wildlife if there were no trees, there might be less warmth if there was no shelter. But all of these things could be substituted with something else; plants for trees, fire for warmth. You can't substitute people. You don't get someone back when you lose someone. That's just how life is. Life didn't have balance, life doesn't give when it takes, it doesn't want you to gain anything. Life is always beating you down. You just have to stand up and face it.

But that was easier said then done in most circumstances.

The mist wasn't clearing, but as his eyes adjusted slightly he could see a small tree. There were small flakes of white floating down around him. It made him shiver. It was snowing. He was alone. He'd never been this alone before. He'd always had someone. It just helped to show how quickly his life was changing, how quickly things could and had changed.

Yuuri made his way over to the tree, it kept the snow away a bit. It was like an obstacle the snow had to over come to hit him, just like this was an obstacle for him to overcome and live into his future. Shouri and Shoma would only wish him happiness. He knew that and he knew it well. But it didn't help him at all. In fact, all it did was remind him of their faces. Those happy faces he'd been around all his life, how could they be gone?

Could they really be gone? In just a night? In just a few hours? In an instant?

Yuuri rested his head on his knees. The tears soaked in to his ruffled jeans, leaving a darker patch where they lay. He cuddled himself to keep warm, making himself as small as possible. He cried quietly, on his own. He didn't need anyone to tell him it was okay. All he needed was himself. All he needed was to keep to himself. That way, no one and nothing could make him more upset, broken and devastated as he was right now.

* * *

Wolfram was searching frantically. He'd seen Yuuri run off, but now he had no idea where he'd gone. He'd lost sight of him because of the weather and now he was slightly lost himself. Earth was a big place. A very big place. And Japan was just a small part of it.

He'd searched every where around the outside of the house until he couldn't see it any more. He'd searched up the street and had even resorted to having Murata come and help him when he'd found out Yuuri wasn't at his place either.

Wolfram was getting annoyed, not at Yuuri but at his actions. Why did he run away like that? That was completely uncalled for. He didn't need to run away, running away just made everything harder. Miko had stopped crying before he'd left. He had to make sure she was okay before he went to look for Yuuri because she would be the one looking after him. She would be the one to care for Yuuri, someone had to be in their right mind. And right now that wasn't Wolfram. He believed he'd gone slightly crazy. How could he lose Yuuri so easily like this? He wasn't allowed to lose Yuuri. Losing Yuuri meant losing himself, even though he thought himself nothing compared to him.

It was snowing. It had started several minutes ago, but Wolfram had lost track of time. Maybe it was longer than a few minutes ago. Time didn't matter; Yuuri did. Yuuri had been out for much longer than him. Yuuri was wearing nothing but a short sleeved shirt, jeans and a pair of socks, and Wolfram hadn't seen him put any shoes on before he left.

Wolfram wasn't wearing much either, but Miko had made him take a coat and a blanket for Yuuri when he found him. Yuuri would be freezing cold and his clothes would be utterly soaked. There was no saying how ill Yuuri would feel when he came home, and that was just encouragement for Wolfram to find him. Just another reason to catch Yuuri in his grasp.

Murata had gone off to search the park. The park wasn't far from where Wolfram stood and he could see the dark railing of where it's grounds started through the mist. They were a good distance away from the house now. They wouldn't give up until they found him, and even then they would keep Yuuri from escaping again. Was Yuuri actually running to escape, or was it to clear his head? Either way, Wolfram knew neither of them worked. He'd been in that situation before, but he was much younger. His dad had died and he felt more lonely than ever. He'd ran from the castle down into the streets but was later found by a guard and brought back into Celi's loving arms. Conrad and Gwendal had tried to reason with him, but it was a long time before he'd finally let them win.

Despite all that, Wolfram knew what Yuuri was trying to do anyway. He was trying to take this all on his own. For anyone, it was too much to take. No one could handle that all alone. They'd crack some day. Wolfram wanted nothing more than to see Yuuri come home safe. He couldn't and wouldn't watch as his king, fiancé, and friend shrank into nothing more than a mere human. Yuuri was a mazoku, he had more dignity than that and Wolfram knew it. It was just a matter of time before he bashed that into Yuuri so hard it would remain in his mind even when his soul is reborn. But hopefully that wasn't an event that would happen for a long time.

* * *

Murata couldn't find anything in the park, not even a trace. Not even a little bit of proof to show that Yuuri had been there. He would have called his parents to help, but they were at the hospital for a check up and said they wouldn't be home until later that evening. Murata could use all the help he could get right now. He knew Yuuri well, and this was definitely something Yuuri would do. Running away so no one else was burdened by his feelings? Hiding away because he believed he could take it all on himself. _That's_ the Shibuya that Murata knew. Shibuya would never change. He was always the same naïve boy he used to be.

Knowing Yuuri well, Murata also knew the places Yuuri was most likely to go. He'd either find him on one of the field they used for practice, or in one of the parks they used to visit when they were younger. They were the places in which Yuuri's mind was at ease. They were the places Yuuri would go to think, to clear his mind. That's just how Yuuri was. He didn't usually think before acting, but when he did, Yuuri reached some pretty deep and reasonable conclusions. Right now, maybe it was best to give him some time, but not when the snow was starting to get heavier and the temperature was starting to drop. The only thing that would happen then is Yuuri coming home sick. They had to find him before that happens.

The mist was starting to clear. Murata could now see Wolfram clearly from where he was stood and houses close by were starting to come into view. At least now he could see what he was doing. That would make the search much easier. He was now completely certain that they would find and take Yuuri home.

* * *

He was about a forty five minute walk away from his home, but Yuuri still wasn't prepared to leave his spot under the tree. His tears had stopped falling and he was now left shivering, alone in the slowly dispersing mist. From what he could see he was close to a place he and Shouri used to play in. There was a small goal post a few metres to his left, and behind him -though he hadn't noticed- was a mini tyre swing hanging from a regular sized branch of the tree he was under. Yes, he remembered this place. He and Shouri were young boys when they used come here and have picnics with their parents. Yuuri's most recent memory of it was flashing before his eyes. He was sat in a small pink dress, his hair done up in a pony tail at the back. His dress was decorated with a cake that he'd dropped all over himself. He was clumsy as a young boy, and not much has changed other than his dislike for wearing female clothes.

The memory made him smile regardless of his low mood. Remembering it now his memory became more valuable to him. He wouldn't be able to make any new ones, so the ones he has now should be treasured all his life. His father and brother meant so much to him. Their bodies may be lost, but they still live on in him. He will always carry the encouragement they gave him close to him.

He would miss them forever and always. In his head, he was thinking of a way to bring them back. A way for him to at least get to say goodbye to them. One more word would mean the world to him. But whether or not that would actually happen was beyond him. He couldn't make that happen. Could anyone? Maybe...maybe there's a way in Shin Makoku! Maybe there is a way he could keep them close to him after all!

Resting on this conclusion, he slumped against the tree. He felt tired again, and his body was shivering. He really should be getting back now. They're probably looking for him right now. He knew his way back from here. He would probably find them on the way back if they truly knew anything about him. He was a while away from home, but he didn't care. For him, the further he ran, the better. It would take them longer to find him if he was further away. He didn't want to be found. He would go back when he was ready. He was strong enough to go it alone. Or that's what he'd forced himself to believe.

He was feeling lazy from all the running, all the feeling in his legs had gone. He was out of energy. All the crying had given him a headache. He brought his arm up to his forehead, slightly obstructing his vision as the snow that lay resting on it fell to the floor. His forehead was warm even though he was really feeling the cold, but putting his freezing arm there helped ease the headache just a little.. The cold was getting to him, it felt as if it was biting into his skin. His damp hair stuck to his forehead, it was coated with snow and his clothes were soaked through too. He forgot that he wasn't wearing any shoes either. He was starting to regret his previous actions as he felt himself become slightly warmer in the head. His vision blurred slightly as the snow found it's way into his eyes. He wasn't ready to get up yet, his legs didn't want to obey him and he felt numb in several places. He was actually content with staying there for a while, it was quiet and there was nothing there that could make him feel any worse than he was already feeling.

That is until a certain blonde came into view.

* * *

_**A/N**_

**Yeah I know, short chapter, huh? I was going to write more, but I'm really feeling the cliff hanger on the end of this one. ;) Sorry to those who dislike them. (Hate is a big word).  
**

**Once again, any mistakes you know what to do. Please, feel free to criticize my stupidity. I'll admit that I was wrong. **

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't, I'm still in charge here.**

**Thanks for reading. :)**

**Review Responses (_There's only a few people so I'll do it again in this chapter_). (_Thanks for reviewing!_)  
**

**WezL**

Why, thank you. And I almost cried when writing it. I feel so heartless and I'm truly sorry for what I have done to you Rodriguez! :) I'm happy, regardless.

**ILoveAnimeVeryMuch123**

Interwebz thankyu pockies? I bow down to you. Pocky is truly amazing.

And thank you, I planned on making it sad, but beautiful? You give my stomach pet butterflies, really you do. I think I might name them someday too.

**Miyuki Meiru**

I planned for the sad part, I also had a plan for what to do with Miko. I know how the fic ends, but I'm still writing the middle in my head. So I know where Miko ends up, I just haven't planned on how she gets there.


	8. Alone in the Cold

**Chapter 7 – Alone in the Cold

* * *

**

As Wolfram drew closer, Yuuri's body tensed more and more. Everything seemed to stop moving and Wolfram was approaching quickly, his image becoming clearer by the second. He was carrying something, but what it was didn't register in Yuuri's mind as he was distracted by the blonde himself.

There was nowhere else left to run.

The blonde was now so close that Yuuri was beginning to see the look of sheer worry on his face. Wolfram was almost running, not wasting another second on being absent from Yuuri's side. Yuuri was still. His body wouldn't work, he had gone completely numb. That was when he realised just how cold it really was outside. His body started to shiver. He could feel the cold, but he couldn't move to escape it.

"Oh, Gods! Yuuri!" Wolfram met Yuuri's side and knelt down, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders. He could feel the violent shakes from Yuuri's body; he could see the tear stains on his cheeks. There was no way Yuuri was okay. He needed to be taken home right now, and Wolfram planned on doing just that. "Yuuri, you look terrible. We have to get you home. Come on, stand up."

Wolfram's hand went around Yuuri's waist as he tried to help the boy to his feet. But Yuuri's body was refusing to move. Not only was his body refusing, but his mind was too. He didn't want to be helped up.

More specifically, he didn't want to be helped up by Wolfram.

Wolfram had lied to him. Wolfram had said it was going to be okay. Wolfram had said everything was going to be alright.

But that was all a lie.

"...No..."

"What? Yuuri, come on. We have to get you home; we can't just leave you out here to freeze! No one wants that." Wolfram's voice was gentle, pleading, but for some reason Yuuri wasn't having it. He wasn't listening to Wolfram's words. Why should he believe Wolfram this time? What good had that done the last time? Maybe it _had_ calmed him down last time, but that was before he knew the truth. Calming him down had only made the overall effects worse.

Yuuri, at this moment, couldn't bring himself to trust Wolfram.

"...No..." Yuuri's voice was cold and stern. Everything he said sounded like a bold statement. A blatant statement that was supposed to be obeyed.

"Please. Yuuri, you have to come home. Your mother's worried about you. Me and Murata have been searching for a while now... Please?" Wolfram's voice was full of concern. He was trying to keep his cool, masked by the obvious sincerity about him. He was only trying to get Yuuri home. Right now, Yuuri's attitude wasn't helping.

"Wolfram. Let. Go." Yuuri was using the same tone as before. It was strict. Said only to be followed.

Wolfram did. But his gaze didn't. His gaze was stuck on Yuuri as the blonde reluctantly stood up in front of him. Yuuri's pale face had an unreadable expression. It was a mix of unease, hate and despair. But he also looked angry. Angry at what though? Of course, he'd just found out some heart breaking news and there was no taking that back but that shouldn't make him angry. That should make him upset, shouldn't it?

Then why was it almost the complete opposite.

Yuuri shifted a little, trying to get more comfortable. He didn't know why. Maybe it was because he was uncomfortable; getting comfortable under a tree isn't the easiest thing to do. Or maybe it was because he was trying to fill the awkward silence from Wolfram. He was trying to distract himself, in other words.

"...Wolfram...Why did you do that?"

"What? Come looking for you? Well of course I would! We're all worried sick ab-"

"No! Why did you _lie to me_?"

"Huh?" Wolfram was awestruck. What had he said that was a lie? He'd always spoken the truth to Yuuri; he wasn't one to lie to the most precious person in his life. That was completely out of the question. He'd never do anything like that, and especially not intentionally.

"You said it was going to be okay! You said everything was going to be alright!" Yuuri's voice was cracking. Once again he was almost in tears. He found himself moving more and more until he was kneeling at the blonde feet and then he stood up.

* * *

Miko Shibuya was sat in the front room. With her head in her hands, she was slumped on the sofa. Her hair was a mess as she'd not cared enough to tend to it and her clothes were ruffled, creases everywhere. Despite her very clean and tidy, well-presented self today she was quite different. She was the polar opposite of her normal persona.

Her husband and eldest son had died, her youngest had run away. Was the world only meant for hurt. These past few years had been the happiest of her life and now, they had changed in what might as well be the blink of an eye. It wouldn't make any difference. But if it had changed slower, would the reactions have been different? Was all the pain because it had happened so fast? Was it because they weren't prepared? Well, no one could really say. There would always be hurt in losing someone close to you. Miko knew that. Miko knew what it was like.

But would she have been this upset if only she had gotten to say goodbye?

* * *

Rodriguez was still there. He hadn't finished what he was told he needed to. He hadn't told them Shouri and Shoma's last words. He was looming about the hallway by the door waiting for the boys return. Murata and Wolfram had left about an hour ago to find Yuuri. They still hadn't come back yet. Not that he was worried; he was, but he knew they'd all come back home well. It was only taking this long due to the weather, but it seemed to be clearing up now. The last of the mist was dispersing and the small estate was coming back into view.

At least telling them of their relatives last words would be easier. At least they would get a proper goodbye from them. It was only a pity that they hadn't been there to say goodbye themselves. That might have made the whole event slightly easier on them. But would it? Saying goodbye may have made it more emotional, but easier? No one likes to see someone die before them, they especially wouldn't want to see a relative die before them. It may have just made things harder. And maybe telling them this way was for the best.

Rodriguez wasn't going to risk telling Miko on her own, he was going to wait until Yuuri came back and tell them both.

Deep down, he was actually quite relieved that Wolfram was here. The last time Wolfram had been in Shin Makoku he had had undeniable control over Yuuri, so much so that Yuuri seemed to be slightly scared of him. Wolfram was making this whole experience easier. This experience was a hard thing for him. This wasn't what he was specialised in doing. He was a paediatrician, this really wasn't his field.

Waiting for the boys was the only thing he could do right now. He'd tried to console Miko, but it hadn't worked. All she'd done is asked for someone to go out and bring Yuuri home. All she wanted was her son's safety right now. To think there was a risk to him now too, that was unbearable. Although, one could tell she was exaggerating. But, who wouldn't? She was only a mother worried for her son. There's nothing wrong with being a worried mother; not at this moment in time especially.

* * *

Murata was pacing around the park. It was kind of obvious now that Shibuya wasn't in this area but he had this nagging feeling that because he couldn't see Wolfram any more that Wolfram had found Yuuri. He wasn't going to head home yet though. There was no reason to give false hopes if that wasn't the case. He would have to find Wolfram and Yuuri before going inside, or he could lounge around and wait for them to find him. There was no harm in choosing the latter, and that's just what he did.

Sitting on a park bench – a cold park bench on which thin layer of snow had settled – Murata decided to take a small break. The coat he was wearing was now slightly damp and his hair was windswept in all different directions. The sky was coming into view above him, meaning the temperature could rise and there was a possibility of the sun coming out. The cold winters breeze was subsiding. It was around lunch time and with this little pickle they were in Murata hadn't eaten since morning and was feeling slightly peckish. Was getting something to eat a bad idea right now? Surely there was a chance he would find Yuuri and Wolfram on the way to the nearest store. He'd brought some money with him in case of this situation and he could also buy something for them if they wanted anything.

He stood up and started to head left, the direction opposing the wind. Looking forward, he made his way down the path towards a crossroad. There weren't many people out and the street looked empty. It's only normal to assume it was because of the brisk cold outside. Being a Saturday though, the place sure did look deserted.

Murata had no idea of how to deal with Yuuri's reaction. He'd obviously been through if not this then something similar. They were merely memories now, but they are still there. Yuuri's reaction had been a bit more extreme though. Running away from the truth wont work. Yuuri was was a strong child, Murata was certainly positive that Yuuri could get through this with help from others. There was no telling how his mother would cope, but she had to keep strong for Yuuri's sake. Her keeping strong would help Yuuri keep himself composed. 'If his mother could deal with it, he could too.' That was Yuuri's typical way of thinking. He'd get through this, there was no doubt in Murata's mind of that.

But what about Shin Makoku? Yuuri had only arrived back yesterday, but seeing the state he was in there was no way he'd be going back any time soon. Dealing with this and running a country at the same time would push him over the edge. That's too much for a person his age. Murata's main worry was how long he'd spend on Earth. How long would he be away from Shin Makoku? How much time would pass with out their beloved king? Would he be able to keep going as king for the next few years with this burden on his shoulders?

And Wolfram too. When would Wolfram be going back? He wouldn't be able to travel back without help from Yuuri; but it's obvious he wouldn't leave without Yuuri in the first place. The reason he came to Earth was to take Yuuri back to Shin Makoku. The Great One couldn't help them from Shin Makoku when they were on Earth, he could only watch through the water in the temple.

Murata turned several corners, too occupied by his thoughts to realise that he'd passed many shops he could have already gone into. He'd forgotten all about being hungry. He just kept walking. He knew where he was, and when he looked up he knew where they were too.

In the distance stood a distraught black haired, black eyed boy and opposite him stood a blonde haired boy who's eyes he couldn't see but who's clothes matched those of the boy he was with not half an hour ago.

* * *

Wolfram stared at Yuuri as he rose to his level. It happened all too fast and Wolfram had barely registered the movements before Yuuri's head was opposite his. Yuuri was standing right in front of him.

"Go away. Wolfram." Wolfram wasn't going to, but Yuuri wasn't one to burden people with his worry. Or was that the real reason he wanted Wolfram to go away? Where did he expect Wolfram to go? He couldn't get back to Shin Makoku, he wouldn't go back to Shin Makoku without Yuuri anyway. He also wouldn't go back to Miko without Yuuri. If he left to find Yuuri and came back with nothing, Miko's strong composure would surely shatter.

He was determined. He would take Yuuri home; he would take Yuuri back to Shin Makoku. He would take Yuuri back to the places he was needed most, even if Yuuri wasn't going to go. He'd force him if he had to. That's how much Yuuri meant to him. Yuuri's well being meant the most to Wolfram. This wasn't just about his job of protecting Yuuri, this was how he felt about Yuuri. This was about how deep Yuuri would let Wolfram in to his feelings.

This was also about how much Wolfram really loved Yuuri and how much of it Yuuri was willing to give back.

"Yuuri, I'm not going to leave you here!"

"Leave me alone!"

"Yuuri!"

"Go!"

"No!"

"Go away!"

Everything was happening too fast, and Yuuri didn't realise it. He wasn't in control of his actions. His body was moving on it's own.

Wolfram wouldn't back down. He wouldn't let Yuuri out of his grasp again. Not this time.

"Wolfram, go away! Leave me alone!"

That's when it happened.

Wolfram felt a sharp pain to his right cheek. He'd seen the fist coming, but it was too late when he'd realised it. Yuuri's fist had hit him in the face.

"Wolfram, get out of here!" Yuuri hadn't realised he'd done it. But then he looked again. _What had he done?_

He fell to his knees whilst at the same time the tears came falling from his eyes. He'd hit Wolfram. He'd _hit_ Wolfram and he _hadn't even noticed_.

"Wo...Wolf?" His voice fell to a much lower decibel as he was trying to hold back the tears. He'd sworn to never hit anyone again, not after the circumstances of what had happened every time he had.

Wolfram lowered himself down to the ground. It didn't matter that Yuuri had hit him. It didn't matter because he'd endure whatever it would take for Yuuri to get over the hurt. Kneeling in front of Yuuri, he looked at the state he was in. He was visibly shaking, and the tears running down his cheeks weren't helping. Wolfram wiped them away with a small bit of his sleeve on his thumb.

"It's okay, Yuuri. It doesn't hurt." That was a lie, but it was a safe lie. It would make Yuuri feel better, and the pain would go away. It's not like a small lie like that could do the damage his previous lie had. This small lie was much different. This small lie meant a smile and several seconds acknowledgement; his first lie meant false hope for who knows how long. He much preferred the first.

Yuuri felt two arms wrap around his shoulders as Wolfram hugged his body closer to his own. Wolfram gently rested a finger under Yuuri's chin and brought his head up to meet his eyes.

"Yuuri it doesn't matter. I'm fine, seriously. If you think a lame throw like that would hurt me you're clueless. Now, lets go home. Your too cold, you're going to get ill at this rate." Yuuri nodded slightly as a reply and this time when Wolfram went to help him up, his body followed suit. Going home was a good idea. He wouldn't last much longer outside in the winter cold.

Yuuri's body was light and Wolfram put an arm around his shoulders to keep his body upright. There was no way he'd be able to walk when he's this cold, he wasn't even wearing shoes!

_'Honestly, the wimp doesn't think before doing anything these days.'_ Wolfram thought to himself. A small smile formed on his face as he knew just how much that was true.

* * *

From a distance, Murata watched the pair. He'd seen everything, though he wasn't close enough to hear what they had been saying. He watched Wolfram put an arm around Yuuri for support as they headed towards him. They probably hadn't noticed him yet because how of distracted they were around each other. That was how it always was. Consider your presence unnoticed when around Wolfram and Yuuri because they are more interested in arguing or chatting between each other than talking with you. And that's just how it was; had been, and should always stay.

Going off that, Murata started to head towards them. He had to check Yuuri's condition because knowing how long he'd been out there was a high chance of him catching hypothermia. If that happened, then Yuuri would have to go to hospital if he got any worse. That meant it was sort of vital that they get him home, into clean clothes and warmed up as quick as possible. If that happened, they'd be here even longer. Shin Makoku might suffer from this. Having their king away meant weakness.

But they all had no idea of the condition he was in. If they did, would they have him run the country?

* * *

Yuuri's body was still shivering. Wolfram was trying his hardest but holding Yuuri like this was way too uncomfortable for his liking. Coming to the conclusion that it would be much easier if he carried him another way, Wolfram let go of Yuuri's shoulders. He received a puzzled look back.

"Sorry, can I carry you another way? This way is hurting my arm." Wolfram asked. Yuuri gave a small nod in reply and Wolfram lightly placed his arm around Yuuri's legs and an arm across his back. He jerked slightly as he pulled Yuuri into his arms bridal style. "Ah, that's much easier. It should be warmer this way too. You should get comfortable Yuuri, looks like we wont be home for a while. I'm surprised you got this far without shoes. Only a wimp like you wouldn't put shoes on before running away." With a light chuckle Wolfram began walking. Looking forward he spied a few of the public. It wasn't like he cared what people though, but this one person was heading towards them as if he had business with them. Wolfram didn't want to deal with people right now, Yuuri needed to be taken home and he had to find Murata first. He didn't want to waste any more time. It had taken too long to find him and there was definitely no stopping him now.

"Wolfram! Yuuri!" Running towards them with an arm waving around frantically in the air was Murata and for once Wolfram was happy to see him. Only because it meant they didn't need to go off track to find him. "Oh, that's cute... Wolfram, is Shibuya okay?" He to Wolfram after taking in their little...situation. _'Is he really so bad that he needs to be carried...like that? I'm sure he appreciates it though. Hahah. Right now that's the least of our problems.' _Murata though to himself.

"I'm not sure. And stop with the _inappropriate_ comments. He'll be warmer this way." Sticking his nose up in the air, Wolfram quickened his pace.

"Yeah, yeah. We had better head back. Shibuya might catch something if we stay out like this. And we don't want his mother getting more worked up than she is now. She'll be relieved to know with found him. The quicker we get back the better." Murata added as he caught up with him.

"...mmhnn..." Yuuri, with his head buried, mumbled into Wolfram's chest. He grabbed on to Wolfram's sleeve in an effort to stop his shivering. The blanket was falling off his shoulders. In seeing this, Wolfram tried to get the it back over his them properly but it was easier said than done when carrying him like that.

"Hey, Murata. A little help here would be _nice_." Wolfram said. He shot evils at Murata and the teen jumped in to help him. He pulled the blanket over Yuuri's shoulders properly and left the most of it to wrap around Yuuri's stomach to keep his hands warm. Bunching it up in his fists, Yuuri still couldn't stop his shivering.

Murata noticed this. Rewinding his thoughts, he looked up at Wolfram again.

"Wolfram, I think he's caught hypothermia, we'll have to get him home asap. If he gets any worse, we'll have to take him to hospital." Wolfram's eyes went wide. _'Hospital?' _Wolfram didn't know where that was, but he surely didn't like the sound of it. "C'mon, lets go, lets go, lets go!" He pushed Wolfram's back in effort to get him to move faster, but when Wolfram growled in return he backed off.

They both quickened their pace with Wolfram behind. Carrying Yuuri slowed him down slightly. They were almost running. The mist was completely gone by now, leaving their path clear before them. The journey home shouldn't be longer than fifteen minutes, but if they hurried they could make it in seven.

* * *

Rodriguez jumped as he felt his phone vibrate against his chest. The only person who would call him at this time, when they knew he was in the middle of a job would be...

"Hello, Rodriguez. It's Bob. Have you finished your task yet?"

"No, actually. Hah. Yuuri didn't take the news to well and he ran away. We do have people out looking for him though. He wont be out much longer."

"...I see." Rodriguez hesitated slightly. His job wasn't done and he had to keep track of his first one at the same time. "Have you made any progress?"

"Hahah, no. I haven't had any calls from the hospital yet. We are looking for a baby, right?"

"It would be advised. We have to implant the soul before four months. We can't have a soul already fully developed in the child, taking it out would be like killing it and you know how I feel about killing children. I'd never do such a thing."

"Yes, yes. I'll get right on it, I just need to see that Yuuri arrives home safely for the sake of Miko. She's also not in the best condition."

"Of course. Thank you, Rodriguez." With a click, the call was ended. After putting it back in his pocket he turned to look out the window. There was no sign of them yet. They had to have found him by now. If they hadn't... well Rodriguez didn't want to think about the possible scenarios that could come of that.

He looked down to the paper in his hand. It was covered in black ink, that ink being the date, time and cause of death along with the last words of the two deceased. Who knew ink on a piece of paper could do so much harm to a persons mental state? He hadn't even told them yet, and he was hoping telling them would do more good than bad.

'_Would it really be that bad not to tell them?_' He thought to himself. He was considering it. If it made them any worse, he couldn't see a way that they would be able to keep themselves together. _Would_ it really be that bad?

Rodriguez mentally slapped himself. '_Of course it wouldn't be any help. Not telling them would just be avoiding the problem. I'll never know if I don't do it. Who knows, it might even give them some reassurance._'

Still gazing out the window, he watched several cars pass.

Miko was still in the other room. She hadn't moved since Murata and Wolfram had left. She smiled for them before they did so and kept a smile on her face for them. That was all washed away when they were no longer in hearing range. She'd been in tears ever since. If Yuuri wasn't found...if he wasn't brought back home, she didn't know what she would do. She'd be all alone. She'd never been alone before. She had always had someone with her; if it wasn't her husband, it was her friends and if it was neither of them, it was her beautiful boys. Her life had revolved around them. They kept her going through the day. One might not be able to comprehend the hurt she was going through, but they would still sympathise for her. Every mother wants to avoid out-living any of her children. You may think that no mother should have to live through that. Of course, that's the truth but we all know that accidents happen. You can't change the past.

That left Miko looking towards the future as she sat alone on her living room sofa.

Her son would come back.

And if he didn't, there was no saying she would come back either.

* * *

**A/N**

**So, right now I'm going to mention that all you readers should thank my sister if you liked this story too. She doesn't write it or anything, but I ask her a lot of questions about 'this or that' when writing it. She deserves the thanks. Not that her idea's influence the story line, but they do help. And she demanded I add this.**

**So thank her too.**

**Anyway, I didn't like the length of this chapter, too short. And there were so many places I want to end it. I also think that the tiny Yuuram part was too short. So sue me. :) ANY MISTAKES, POINT THEM OUT! I don't _care_ how small they are. I also am not sure about several parts too. I'm also slightly worried about my characterisation of Rodriguez and Bob, don't get me wrong, I like they guys but you don't see them a lot. It's hard to write in a character that you don't know much about.  
**

**Sorry for not updating quickly, I have been (and still am) I'll with a headache. And it _hurts_. I was off school for a week. _A week! _****But now it's half term, hahah!****  
**

**This is the part that I'm going to pick the story up on. Yuuri is almost home, which means I can be in full control of him and his actions. This is when all the recovering will start.  
**

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't. You're still amazing people.**

**Thanks for reading too!

* * *

**

**Review Responses (Screw it, I'll do it when I feel). Thanks for reviewing!**

Miyuki Meiru 

I want to hug him too, but we all know that's Wolfram's job. :/

Sorry for the cliff hanger, I felt really mean leaving it like that. But this story is a work in progress, so I plan the chapter as I write it.

Yuuri don't cry (Yes, Yuuri. Wolfram's with you. ;) )

Of _course _I'll keep going. I have no reason to stop. I have more reasons to continue than I do to stop. Besides, I love writing, and I love writing this fiction. It's a good experience. And he might sing a song. I'm not sure what song though. I'll decide that later maybe. :)

And thanks for loving it. Also, people are stupid, if they say anything bad, we can pretend we're deaf. Thank you deaf people. We love you too.

HelpIcantgotosleep

You're welcome, though I must admit there are some parts that I'm not too sure about. My prayers go out to them too, they seem to be doing much better now. :) Although I don't see them as often as I used to.


	9. Through the Blind

**Chapter 8 – Through the Blind**

* * *

As the trio turned the last corner, the house of the Shibuya's came into view. That was good, at least they were almost home. Their journey hadn't been swift sailing. After having to cross several roads, and with Yuuri's body becoming too numb in the cold, they had to carry him the whole way. The journey had been postponed to what anyone would assume to be another half hour. By the looks of things now, Yuuri wasn't in a stable condition. Murata may have been proven right already. Yuuri was becoming ill.

Becoming weak, the pace of the two supporting Yuuri's body was slowing. Seeing their estate enabled them to let out a small sigh of relief, and now that the house had come into view, they could put their minds at ease too. The situation was lightening up. All Miko needed was Yuuri, and all Yuuri needed was Miko and her warm heart. Especially the warm heart. That was, if Miko herself was alright. Wolfram had left in a hurry, not thinking about his actions first. That wasn't the smartest thing to do on the planet but he'd still thought to check on her before leaving. It seemed she had been in shock, and with Yuuri running away that shock had multiplied. No one could say for sure that she would recover much when they returned with Yuuri, but it would surely lighten the heavy burden on her shoulders.

Nearing the house, their tight grips on Yuuri's upper arm loosened, revealing a light red patch on his arm where they had been holding him. Despite them having been the ones to carry Yuuri, he looked more worn out than they did. His face was pale, and his eyes were half closed, as if he was tried to keep himself from falling asleep. His breathing was uneven and his hair dishevelled, along with his constant shaking.

"We're home Shibuya, just a little further. You can withstand that right?" Murata's voice rung in his ears slightly, his head felt heavier than normal. Something was definitely not right. He looked up slightly. It was true, they were almost at the door. So close, soon he'd be wrapped up in a thick blanket and drinking soup to warm up. He'd just keep that in mind whilst taking the last few steps without collapsing from the weight that he was feeling. His head was heavy. So very heavy...And it was hard to think. Thinking only made the pain worse.

And for a moment, Yuuri unintentionally forgot the situation.

Everything suddenly started to get blurry. The last thing he heard was a panicked voice; what it was saying was inaudible, but he swore he heard his name being called. It was female but... What direction was it coming from?

Then everything went black.

* * *

Wolfram spun on his heel after hearing a small thud behind him. As he turned his eyes widened. Yuuri was lying on the floor, motionless and pale. It had only been about a minute since they had let him walk on his own, and despite him not saying much on their long journey back he did voice several small protests of 'Let me down, I can walk on my own.' or 'It's fine, really. You guys can let go.'.

Murata hadn't reacted yet, or he wasn't aware of it but either way when he did, another voice distracted him. It was blatantly female and came from behind him. He turned to look whilst Wolfram knelt down at Yuuri's side to see if he could find out what was wrong.

"...Boys?..." It was Miko. She hadn't seen Yuuri yet, Murata guessed. It was obvious, because of the happier (though not completely overjoyed) look on her face. It took a moment for Murata to take in the situation and when he did, he realised that Miko was running towards them. She'd see Yuuri and then...

What would she do? Would she act like a mother? Would she panic because of her recent loss and believe Yuuri might leave her too? Would she stand there frozen like she was doing now? Maybe.

As Wolfram lent over Yuuri's body, he felt for his temperature. It was lower than normal, not to mention that it was harder to find his pulse. Murata quickly reacted to Wolfram's mumbling curses and panicked calling of Yuuri's name. Squatting to the same level as Wolfram, Murata mimicked his actions. He took Yuuri's left wrist in his hand and felt for his pulse. Once again, it was barely recognisable.

"We have to get him to a doctor. And fast." Murata turned his head towards the scenery behind him and saw someone familiar leaving the household. "...Rodriguez..." Murata whispered to himself. He was a doctor, maybe not in medical sciences but he had to know something about this. He'd been through several medical courses before he'd been given his job. He had to, it was mandatory. "Rodriguez! Some thing's not right! Yuuri's unconscious!"

Rodriguez picked up his pace immediately. Arriving at Yuuri's side, he mimicked both the boys before him. He concentrated for a few seconds, utterly focused on Yuuri. Not even a minute sooner, his head shot up.

"This isn't good. His temperature has fallen, his pulse is barely there. Murata. I need you to call an ambulance as quickly as possible." Rodriguez said, and started to move Yuuri's body into a more comfortable position; to be more precise, the recovery position.

Murata nodded and shot up. He then disappeared into the house behind them, returning through the doorway with an engaged cordless phone in his hand.

Wolfram hadn't said anything the whole time. He was powerless here on Earth and even though earlier he had been able to use even the slightest bit of soothing maryoku, he knew he wasn't able to any more. The power he'd had back then was gone now. He was left helpless, although Yuuri was even more hopeless. He stared at Yuuri, but Yuuri didn't look back. There wasn't even that smile he always received from him every now or then. There was no emotion on his face, and that saddened Wolfram even more. Wasn't he supposed to protect Yuuri? Wasn't he here to stop something like this happening? Even now, there was nothing he could do.

He looked up slightly, remembering where they were. If they were almost home before...where were they now? His eyes darted around the place. They were home, backing up that fact was the place his eyes had rested. Miko 'Jennifer' Shibuya, stood frozen on the pathway.

Now Wolfram was starting to panic. What should he do! Without thinking he stood up, facing Miko.

"He'll be okay, right? Right?" His volume started to pick up, almost to the point that he would no longer be in control of his actions. Knowing Wolfram and his ability to lose control of himself easily, that wasn't a good thing.

"Wolfram. Help me, we need to get him inside." Wolfram nodded weakly, but he didn't make an effort to help. He was still expecting an answer from Miko. When no words were exchanged, Wolfram lost track of time. It just like that night with Yuuri. She was looking through him, not at him. Her attention was elsewhere. He started to doubt that she'd even heard the question.

It was amazing. It was amazing just how much she looked like Yuuri right now. That terrible look of defeat that made Wolfram feel self-conscious, that made him feel like he was the one in the wrong. Even though none of their looks matched at first, Wolfram started to see just how much they were alike. The way Yuuri was strong at some moments and worryingly weak at others. It looked like they shared that trait. It was different for Miko though; it wasn't really considered, in his head, polite to call her a 'wimp'. There was something eerily wrong with them being so alike though. Who would be the strong one when the other was weak? They wouldn't be able to survive together if that was the case. Eventually, one of them would destroy themselves and when the other couldn't cope with being alone, they too would follow suit.

"Wolfram, help me. Now!" Rodriguez wasn't one for shouting, but it worked. Wolfram's body jerked backwards slightly in response and he headed in his direction. Only then did he see Miko's eyes acknowledge the situation. Her eyes momentarily rested on the body of her youngest, and now only son. "Gently Wolfram, any rough movement and we might cause more problems. I don't trust his condition. It could get worse at any time and that might result in-"

He suddenly stopped. He couldn't go any further. If his guess was right, then he didn't want to continue. He didn't want to finish what he was saying. So instead of continuing, he decided he'd just keep quiet. Even if he got a worried look from Wolfram in return, he didn't go on. He focused all his attention on getting Yuuri off the ground and into the house.

In the background, he could hear Murata's shaky voice concluding the phone conversation and the tiny bleep from the phone as the line was disengaged. He then heard hurried foot steps and figured Murata was coming to help. And it was true to his thoughts as Murata motioned Wolfram towards Yuuri and gave him advice of where to hold.

Slowly -ever so slowly- Yuuri's body, wrapped in the blanket he'd been wrapped in earlier, was lifted into the hands of Rodriguez and shortly after he headed towards the house. Wolfram hurriedly followed, leaving Murata stood in the garden alone. Or was he? Remembering seeing her before, Murata glanced before him to see that she was still there. Miko hadn't moved an inch. Deciding it was time to help her, he started towards her.

"...Miko?" Murata was trying to get her attention, but that didn't work. Whatever trance she was in, it wasn't going to be that easy. He stepped closer to her. "Miko." This time it wasn't a question. He wanted a reply. He wasn't asking, he was telling. But it was harder than he thought. With different ideas running through his head, he did the only thing he thought would work right now. He slapped her across her right cheek. Hard enough that it would wake her, but soft enough that it wouldn't hurt, but with the weather being as cold as it had gotten, a slight redness was starting to show.

But at least she responded.

"...Ken?...Where is he!" Sudden realisation came to her as something sparked in her brain. Where was Yuuri?

"Don't worry. He's inside. An ambulance is on it's way. I'm sure he'll be fine." There was doubt weaved into his words, but thankfully she didn't notice. Murata sighed lightly. "How does Shibuya manage to get into such a state every time." He said, more to himself than to anyone else. Miko just looked at him. "You'd better come inside. We don't want you catching a cold. And if he wakes up, I'm sure he'll want you there by his side." A small, honest smile appeared on Murata's face as he held out a hand to her. She took it and he lead her into the safety of the house.

* * *

The house felt warmer than normal. There were five people inside. Murata, Rodriguez, Wolfram, Miko and an unconscious Yuuri. The clothes Yuuri was wearing had been cut off with a pair of scissors (to decrease how much they'd have to move him) and was replaced with a fresh outfit along with a bathrobe. The heating had been turned on and up, giving the house a warmer feel. Yuuri was laid down on the largest bed in the house. A clean, preheated blanket had been draped over his almost lifeless body after Murata ran through the advice he'd been given by the hospital on the other end of the line. His chest was unevenly rising and falling, only so much that it was barely noticeable. You really had to look to see it..The first hospital to respond to his call had been Saitama Prefectures National Hospital and they had said that if the ambulance didn't reach them in more than 30 minutes, to call again. So it was reassuring when they heard sirens from outside the house.

No one knocked on the front door. They came straight through to the room Yuuri had been taken to. The paramedics placed his body on a stretcher, with restraints binding his body to it to stop any sudden movements. The paramedics were in a rush and the stretcher was placed on a gurney and transported outside to the awaiting ambulance.

Murata and Rodriguez weren't allowed to ride in the ambulance. They were only allowing relations, and with Wolfram being the betrothed and Miko being the parent, they were hurried into it and the two left watched as it disappeared around the nearest corner. They looked at each other from the corner of their eyes.

"You reckon he'll be alright?" Murata said, looking slightly down now.

"Who knows. I didn't get to tell them." Rodriguez replied, his eyes looking slightly distant.

"Huh..? Tell them what?"

"Their last words." Rodriguez replied simply. That was more than enough for Murata's eyes to turn wide. He hadn't realised it, or maybe it hadn't sunken in yet, but Shouri and Shoma were really gone, weren't they? They couldn't come back from the dead even if their souls were preserved. Having the same soul didn't mean you were the same person. Take Yuuri and Julia for example. They thought alike, but they weren't the same. The most obvious difference was Yuuri being male, and Julia female. "I guess I'll have to go to the hospital anyway. Bob is looking for a 'vessel' for the soul of the Maou of Earth. He hasn't had any luck yet, but he's contacted all the hospitals in Saitama so far. He has connections in most of them, so they know who he is. We've had no luck finding an unborn mazoku child yet."

Murata gave him a look, as if to say 'good luck' and then a small nod signalling his leave. He spun himself 180 degrees and headed towards his own house which lay just several minutes down the road. Rodriguez gave him a small wave and focused his attention on another task. He strode towards his car and readied himself for the job ahead. This job was going to be longer, but not as necessarily challenging as his last one. Mentally, that was. As he put his key in the ignition, the engine roared to life. He reversed and drove out of the driveway and sped down the road, following the ambulances tracks. It didn't matter which hospital he went to first, but this one seemed the most convenient seeing as he'd have a chance to keep an eye on _them_ and the _mazoku_ whilst he was there.

* * *

The sun was bright, and the air was moist. Several grunting sounds could be heard, along with the clashing of newly sharpened blades. The cries of birds could be heard high above the highest turret. Little did this world know of the recent happens to the one just adjacent to them. Little did they know of their beloved kings hospitalisation. What they did know was that their king, their prince and their great sage had not been back for nine days now. Not that they were too worried right now. Nine days have passed in Shin Makoku, but everyone around the castle knew of the variation in their measurements of time. That meant they could presume barely any time had passed back on Earth.

Though despite that, there were three people who were still concerned. And one of them even more so than the other two. His deafening pleas echoed through the castle and bounced off the skilfully crafted stone walls, annoying not only most of the inhabitants, but keep them awake during the night. Nine days was nothing compared to the time their king had been away in the past, but this time there was a catch. This time they hadn't been told of his reason for leaving, rest assured they had been told he had a reason. They weren't allowed or obliged to know according to the Great one either.

The days that had past were fairly normal. The days in Shin Makoku were fairly easy. The days were getting longer and longer in Shin Makoku as spring was finally on it's way. Earth and Shin Makoku may have different times, but there seasons were in sync. No matter how much time passed in Shin Makoku, the season there would be the same as on Earth. Meaning if you were to stay in Shin Makoku from summer to winter, you would have done the same thing on Earth. You would have missed summer and winter on Earth. That's just the way it was, not that anyone understood it.

The soldiers were training in the courtyard as was their usual routine during the morning hours. They would stop to have their dinner at lunch time then they would patrol the boarders, the city and the castle grounds. There was a night group, and there was a day group. Each did things in reverse. Conrad, since Yuuri's leave had taken up the job as officer of the day group in place of Wolfram, whereas Gwendal had – and had always had – control over the night group.

Though Shin Makoku could survive without it's king for some time, a king being away from their country was not a good sign. There were many things that could go wrong without their king. Namely decision making. When a decision was passed forwards from whomever was concerned with it, the decision would always be made by Yuuri. The reason being was sorely for the fact that he was king. The significance was Yuuri's decisions. Yuuri was unique in so many ways that whatever he decided was either completely out of the blue, or something no one would have even thought of. The difference between them and Yuuri was that Yuuri's decisions nearly always benefited the country. With him leaving - choosing to leave of his own free will – how would the country fare? Considering Gwendal was amazing at his job of taking over the Maou's duties, he couldn't do it forever. He couldn't inherit the throne. That wasn't the Great Ones will.

Conrad was mainly worried about the condition of Yuuri, and with Wolfram being there, he wasn't sure of how things would pan out.

Gwendal was mainly concerned with the numerous uprisings in the south of the country after some rebels attacked them after hearing the king wasn't there and considered it a weakness.

Günter was mainly concerned with Yuuri. Along with Yuuri being alone with 'Little Lord Brat'. The pet name has stuck ever since he and Gwendal had agreed on it earlier during the Maou's reign.

Wolfram was mainly worried about Yuuri.

Yuuri was mainly worried about... well who could say? He hadn't woken up yet.

* * *

As Miko lay at the end of the hospital bed. She felt her exhaustion overwhelming her. For the love of her son, she had tried to keep herself awake for the moment he would wake up. She hadn't managed and Wolfram sat in the background and watched as she was pulled into the world of dreams against her will.

Wolfram found a blanket that had been left in case anyone needed it by a nurse. He placed it lightly over Miko's shoulders and returned to his seat beside his fiancé's temporary – or so he hoped – bed. He looked at Yuuri's face. Still no sign of any emotions.

The doctors had done all they could. There wasn't much they could do for a patient who had his condition. They had told Miko and him that Yuuri was suffering from a severe case of hypothermia – whatever _that_ was. It didn't sound good, but the doctors had seemed pleased with whatever they had done to him. Wolfram had no idea what it was, but the long needle connected to the suspicious looking tube wasn't something he ever wanted to see again.

The only advice they had given to Wolfram and Miko was too keep Yuuri warmed up. As long as he was warmed up and given the correct treatment, they had explained that he should return to a stable condition, but if anything seemed wrong with him or anything came up they were to tell the nearest doctor or nurse. Several doctors had been to check up on him ever half hour though, so Wolfram didn't see anything actually going wrong.

Through the vertical blinds, Wolfram could see the sun blazing down onto the ground side. He shifted over to get a closer look. It was a sure sign that spring was upon them. '_Also, make sure he is kept warm at all times._' Now that spring was coming, that seemed to be less of a problem.

The flowers outside of the window caught his eye. Small, yellow flowers. Pansies. Lying in the flowerbeds across from the window and blind he was hidden behind. He stared at them long and hard.

If only he could surround Yuuri like the yellow on that flower surrounded the black and still be able to glow happily in the sun. He wished he could be the yellow and Yuuri the black. To show that he cared, he would surround Yuuri like that forever. But was that really all that Wolfram wanted? Truly, Wolfram wanted more, but being the more matured version of himself several years earlier, he realised long ago that he'd settle with just being by Yuuri's side if that was all that was acceptable. Being this close to Yuuri _even now_ was a blessing... But at a time like this, when Yuuri hadn't woken up since yesterday after he'd collapsed a few minutes past two o'clock he didn't want to think of such things.

Instead, he made his way back over to his chair and sat down. Facing Yuuri, Wolfram's gaze locked onto Yuuri's eyes. It seemed he would open them any second now, but there was also a chance that... And the doctors had said if they weren't careful that...

"I'm sorry, Yuuri. I truly am." Wolfram's eyes became deeply saddened. "I was there. I was there to protect you and I couldn't even do that." Tilting his head back, he started to find it somewhat laughable. "I guess I'm not as much of a man as I used to be. Hah. I didn't even _do _anything. I couldn't help at all. You were right in front of me, and all I could do was watch... I've never felt that... useless before. " Closing his eyes with his head still hanging backwards, Wolfram gave off a defeated aura. Was he really _that_ useless? So much so that he actually laughed at himself for being _exactly_ that?

* * *

"...Yuuri. Could you wake up...Please?"...

* * *

"Can I see your eyes any time soon?"

* * *

"Hmph. Going to make me wait even when you're asleep? You're such a...wimp." Laughing to himself, and feeling slightly happier doing it, he realised just how long he'd gone without calling Yuuri that.

He would always be a wimp, being a wimp is what came with being a great king. Because no one is great at everything.

Wolfram reached out and took a hold of Yuuri's hand. Yuuri's hair was unwashed. His clothes had been on for a whole day, and he was still wearing the same ones. Yuuri hadn't moved an inch since passing out other than the slight rise and fall of his chest, there wasn't even a twitch of his eyebrow or any shifting on to his side every now and again that Wolfram had witnessed when he'd stayed awake watching him in the past.. The reassuring signs that his breathing had evened out and his colour had come back slightly several hours ago lightened the weight on Wolfram's shoulders, because in truth, he really believed this to be his fault.

Of course, Yuuri would argue otherwise.

"Wouldn't you, wimp?"

"... ...W-Wolf...? ..."

**

* * *

A/N **

**Sorry for not updating for so long. Sorry for putting Yuuri through this. Sorry for making Wolfram believe it's his fault, but most of all, sorry for making you wait. **

**I feel bad. Oh, and thank my sister for the inputs she's...inputted.  
**

**Anyway, I got the sixth volume today and I've already read it. That part where Wolfram hugs Yuuri in the bath is so cute! **

**On a happy note, knowing that I said I had GCSE tests earlier, well I aced my science test. I got an A* star; and get this, I was one mark off full marks! 49/50! I know where I made the mistake, and if there is a next time, I wont make that mistake again. Haha!**

**Any mistakes, pointy pointy. :) Catch the pesky mistakes. It's like a game. Then after you've pointed it out, play spot the difference...after I've corrected it, of course.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't because...you have no other choice... ¬¬**

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Review Responses. (Thanks!...In advance.)**

**Miyuki Meiru**

_To be honest, so do I. But there is something he has to do first..._

**IloveAnimeVeryMuch123 **

_Tha's 'k. It's not like I'm ever going to take this story down, it's my first real dedicated story._

_I always have appropriate instrumentals playing when I read stories, some of them being KKM tunes. :)_

**HelpIcantgotosleep**

_Haha, she blushed. She said thanks back._

_I always wanted Wolfram to carry him like that. What gives Yuuri the right to do it but not Wolfram, am a'right?_

_...And you're welcome._

_That's all from me! For now... Expect an update quicker than this one next chapter, 'k?_ (^.^)/


	10. Lessons From the Past

**Chapter 9 – Lessons from the Past**

* * *

Yuuri stirred again. This had been happening often and Wolfram was getting annoyed. He was half tempted to waltz over to the bedside from his chair by the wall and shake his king awake in the most violent way possible.

But he didn't have the heart in him to hurt him.

The thing that most annoyed him was the way his name kept leaving his sleeping fiancé's mouth every now and then.

Some time over an hour ago, Yuuri's sleep had started to settle in and he was finally out of a dangerous state. He'd started tossing slightly in the bed, and had yet to wake up. Wolfram was getting bored of watching him. Miko was still asleep too. Since they'd gotten to the hospital, the only person around who was familiar to him was Rodriguez and he had come and gone as he pleased. He didn't stay long after receiving a call and having to excuse himself. He hadn't been back since, not that it mattered.

Wolfram couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't because he simply wasn't tired – he had yawned several times – but because he didn't want to miss Yuuri waking up. Of course, Miko didn't either, but she looked like she hadn't slept in days. She looked miserable, even in her sleep.

Yuuri's body started to gently toss to and throw on the bed, taking up all the room. Wolfram's head perked up at this. _'Hadn't Yuuri always been calm sleeper? He'd never moved that much in his sleep before...Does this mean he's waking up!' _Wolfram though to himself. Well, it was a possibility, but after waiting a few minutes he didn't think it would happen.

Rolling on his side, Yuuri gave Wolfram a better view of his face. Yuuri was clearly scowling, deeply too. He also looked incredibly uneasy. In Wolfram's opinion, it didn't suit him. He then started to debate in his head whether or not he should wake him up. But knowing that Yuuri had only actually been sleeping for about two hours he decided against it.

Waiting longer, Wolfram wanted to see how this would pan out. Yuuri was probably just dreaming and there was no reason to make a big fuss out of that.

Leaving it at that, Wolfram still couldn't tear his gaze away from his fiancé. There was a feeling of unrest cramping his stomach and he started to fidget. He shuffled left to right a couple of times, but it just made things worse. Instead, giving up altogether, he stood himself up and made his way to the bed. Miko was still asleep at the end of the bed and Wolfram planned to leave her sleeping. Waking her up would be no good, she needed all the sleep she could get. It didn't feel right to wake her up when she needed the rest.

Looking at Yuuri now, the scowl was still there. It was still as deep as before, but he was starting to toss faster. That was slightly worrying. What was weird though, was that Yuuri seemed to be whispering. Not even thinking it over first, Wolfram leant slightly over until he was within hearing distance. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he knelt down on one knee.

"...no...please...don't..." Yuuri was talking – or pleading – in his sleep, though half of it was too quiet to be understood.

"...no, you can't!" He was getting slightly louder with every word. _'Must be dreaming...but what is he dreaming...?'_ Wolfram thought to himself.

"...No! Don't!" And then, before Wolfram realised it, Yuuri's eyes shot open and his body bolted upright. Almost.

Wolfram just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, because where he was leaning wasn't the best place to be at that moment. Yuuri's head shot up and hit him right under the chin.

"...Ow..." Rubbing his head and eyes simultaneously Yuuri began to peer around the room. Seeing where he was made him slightly more alert along with the blow he'd just taken. His eyes lit up the moment he saw Wolfram. "...Wolf?"

"...Hnn? Ow. Did anyone ever tell you you have a hard head?"

"No...?"

"...Yuuri!" Suddenly realising Yuuri was awake, Wolfram forgot to refrain from yelling. Yuuri stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Yes?" It seemed as if he had no idea of what had happened or why he was in the hospital.

"You're awake."

"Mmm...yeah. Could you get me a drink?" Feeling slightly offended by his fiancé's indifference and the fact that he didn't look happy to see him, Wolfram stood up and slowly went over to a counter not to far from where he had been sitting earlier. He grabbed a cup and jug that had been left for them by a nurse and poured a drink. Without saying anything he turned back and headed for the bed.

After thrusting the drink towards him, Yuuri gave a rather empty reply. The plastic cup was slowly removed from his hand by Yuuri's timid and somewhat weak grasp. The way he held it as if it would break with any slight movements intrigued Wolfram. He watched closely.

"Thanks."

"Mm." Came Wolfram's half-hearted reply. Yuuri then looked into his cup after downing the contents in one.

"Wolfram, what is this place?"

"A hospital, or so I've been told." Yuuri's eyes went wide for a second, but returned to their natural size the moment he recalled what had happened earlier that day. Or what he could remember of it.

"Did I pass out earlier?"

"Maybe. Are you feeling any better?"

"I feel fine."

"Oh? So what was wrong with you earlier?"

"Um...earlier? I wasn't feeling too good."

"Tell me about it." Wolfram said sarcastically. "Anyway, you said you were fine now, so shouldn't we be getting out of here?"

"...Sure. Lets go-"

"NO, we shouldn't! _You _have to sleep. Did you expect to get out of this _that_ easy? You're not well Yuuri, you have to stay in bed!" Wolfram, not even making a move to stop himself, started to shout. Surprisingly, Miko slept even through that. Yuuri didn't even try to counter that, he just nodded and started to straighten the covers. That caught Wolfram's attention.

"I'll do that, Yuuri, you can lie down." Yuuri complied, lying his head back on the pillows. He watched as Wolfram played with the covers a bit before doing what he said he would and straightening them up. Wolfram looked like a child so much when he was messing with thing that it actually made Yuuri laugh a little. "What?" Turning his head to face Yuuri after hearing his giggling, he didn't realise how annoyed he looked.

"Ah...sorry-" Yuuri stopped himself mid sentence. He didn't know how to finish it. If he'd said that Wolfram looked like a child, he would have gotten annoyed, but what else could he say? He could always make something up, but he was never good at coming up with things on the spot, especially nothing legitimate. He stopped thinking about it when Wolfram stood up. Just behind Wolfram, he saw his mothers sleeping face.

"Has she-"

"She's been here since we arrived, we both have." Wolfram said, cutting him off. "She wanted to be awake for the moment you woke up...but I didn't want to wake her. She needs sleep just as much as you do. Are you sure you're alright, Yuuri?"

"Ah, yeah. I'm fine. I'm just feeling a tad bit warm is all." Nodding in response, Wolfram sat down on the bed. Wolfram's feet didn't touch the ground as the bed was designed for an adult. He started kicking his feet softly, whilst looking out of the window. It was raining outside, and the sky was dark. He wasn't really looking at anything, the window was just the biggest distraction from Yuuri, who was watching his mother fondly, with a focused expression on his face. Wolfram turned to Yuuri. He seemed suspicious, as if he wanted to ask something, but there was something stopping him. Feeling the stare coming from the opposing boys direction, Yuuri too looked up at Wolfram.

* * *

Nothing was said and to anyone else no thoughts would've been exchanged, but Wolfram and Yuuri were different. They understood each other just by examining the others appearance. Right now, Yuuri was feeling apprehensive, whereas Wolfram was feeling curious about what Yuuri was feeling apprehensive about. After a short while, Yuuri's expression started to change. There were numerous thoughts in his head, and he didn't know which ones to follow. With his gaze still mirroring that of Wolfram's, Wolfram noticed the change. But before Wolfram could say anything, Yuuri spoke.

"They-They're really gone, aren't they?" Wolfram didn't want to answer, but when he bowed his head slightly Yuuri took it as a 'Yes'. Shuffling from the other direction caught Yuuri's attention. His eyes darted to where he mother was sleeping, and now she seemed to be waking up. Her tired eyes fluttered open and she looked dazed for some seconds.

"Yuuri. Oh, I'm sorry Yuuri, dear, I feel asleep before you woke up..." Seeing the sad, tired expression on her face, Yuuri. Despite her tired looked, she still had the strength she normally had and stood up. She walked around the bed and met Yuuri's side. Sitting down, she embraced Yuuri, giving him a tight squeeze. He returned the hug, as if his mother had heard their conversation before her wake.

* * *

For a while, the room was quiet. Wolfram just smiled to Miko and Yuuri as they shared their mother-son moment. It was heart-warming really. Knowing now that they only had each other, they made a silent pact to keep each other safe in that moment. That was when Yuuri realised something.

"Mother, could you come back to Shin Makoku with us? I want you to live there with me. I can't leave you here alone, not without dad, not without Shouri!" He looked at her with pleading eyes, she only hugged him tighter. Wolfram's eyes widened when Yuuri had mentioned Shin Makoku, he still remembered his duties at a time like this. The something sparked in his head. He didn't have time to say anything though as a doctor entered the room.

"Mrs Shibuya, may I see you a second please."

"Of course. I'll be right back Yuu-chan." Giving him a small kiss to the forehead and letting him go, she stood to follow the woman. He watched his mother go, but was distracted when Wolfram started to speak.

"Yuuri, it's only been about two days since you left, surely not much time has passed in Shin Makoku. My original plan was to come here and take you back but..." Yuuri gave a small smile. Shin Makoku had become his real home. It wasn't a place he just visited to sort out a problem and leave afterwards. It was much more than that now. The place had grown on him, and now he considered it his real home. With only his mother to come back to on Earth, it would be easier to just take her there with him. But that was her decision, not his. If she wanted to leave the world she had lived in all her life and, as a human – who were now acknowledged in a more positive light – had never been to Shin Makoku, it was her decision. The only thing Yuuri could do was take her there. But then again, thinking about it, Yuuri wanted Shouri and Shoma there with him. He wanted his loving father and over-protective brother with him. His family was a huge issue to him, because he barely got to see them due to the time lapse with Shin Makoku. That was when he came to his second conclusion.

"Wolfram," Yuuri looked at him long and hard, determination clouding his pupils, before continuing "I want to find my father and brothers bodies, I'm taking them to Shin Makoku and giving them a proper funeral." Wolfram's mouth opened, but no words came out. His chin was left hanging because he couldn't find any reason to argue against it. After some minutes, he finally regained his voice.

"Yuuri, that's absurd! You can't do that! First, how will you find them? Second, how would you transport them? And third, how can you expect anyone to allow you to do such a stupid thing?" Yuuri looked slightly offended. He was determined to do it. In this world, there were several things his father had taught him; never run across roads, always say thank you after receiving gifts, respect your elders and that _nothing is impossible._

"I'll find them. I also have the power to take them there just like I can other people! I've taken up to five people with me before, five people isn't hard."

"I know that. But Yuuri, at that time you had help from the Great One. How will you get that help from Earth? He can't help you here because this is where he isn't. His powers don't reach this far." Yuuri understood what Wolfram was saying, but it didn't make any difference. He would do and could do whatever he could think of to get his brother and father the burial they deserved.

"I don't need any help from him! Murata's told me many times that my power has surpassed even _his_, I can do more than _he_ can!" Knowingly disrespecting the Great One by not calling him by his title, Yuuri was entirely sure of himself. He was confident in his decision. Even so, Wolfram still had doubts.

"Yuuri, this is idiotic! Do you know what could happen if you fail? What if you drain your maryoku? What would happen if you weren't able to get back?"

"That wont happen. I know it." Yuuri's underlying tone of authority threw Wolfram's next line off, and this time, without arguing, he decided to go with the flow.

"Fine, Yuuri. If you're so adamant in deciding to do this, I wont stop you. But just know that if anything happens, I was the one that warned you before hand. Even so, I'll stand by you at all times, whatever happens to you shall happen to me too."

"Wolfram..."

"I am your _fiancé_ after all, I can't stand here and watch you prance around in all your wimpyness letting dangerous things happen. I'm the only one here who can stop you, as is my sworn duty as your fiancé."

"Aha...ahahaha, sure." Yuuri said, noting Wolfram's enthusiasm. It knocked him off guard for a moment before Wolfram started to laugh. "What...? What did I do this time?" He started to pout.

"Oh, it's nothing." Even after saying so, he kept laughing. Yuuri gave him a soft thump on the arm, and his laughter gradually drew to a halt. That was when Yuuri's mother chose to re-enter the room.

"Yuuri, dear, Wolfram, the doctor said we are allowed to take you home a dawn. She said the worst has past and that you should be fine if we keep a close watch on you." She said with a gentle smile.

"Sure, mum. But first, there is something I have to do." He looked at Wolfram for a second. "...And you never answered my question."

"...Call me mama, Yuu-chan." Was the only response he received along with a girlish giggle and a smile as Miko left the room to find Yuuri's wet clothes that had been replaced earlier.

"Are you sure you want to do this Yuuri? And why didn't you mention it to your mother? She has a right to know." Wolfram asked sceptically.

"I didn't want to tell her. I'm not sure if I'll even succeed, and I don't want to get her hopes up. I want at least one of us to be happy." Wolfram remembered Yuuri's trend of putting others before himself despite his importance. He'd never wish to be considered worthier than the people around him. They were his first priority, whereas to him, he mattered the least. Yuuri applied that to every situation, no matter the consequences that he may receive. It never mattered what happened to him in his head, but to everyone else, he was the most important. If only he realised how much they all cared.

* * *

At dawn, the sun had returned to the sky. The ground was left wet, but the sun was beaming down ready to get to work on drying the place. As Yuuri and Miko Shibuya left the hospital, followed by Wolfram, they gave their thanks to the staff and stepped out of the double doors. They didn't expect to find Rodriguez outside, fully prepared to give them a life home.

"Shibuya family, Bob has requested I give you a life to the airport. He would like to have a long talk with you about...business." Yuuri's face lit up and he quickened his pace towards the car that had been prepared.

"Yuuri, wait up!" Wolfram yelled, immediately following him. Miko just laughed and picked up the two bags they had left behind.

In the car, Rodriguez was driving. Miko was sat next to him, with Yuuri and Wolfram together in the back. Wolfram lent over slightly to whisper into Yuuri's ear.

"What did he mean by _'business'_?" Wolfram whispered, dragging the word on for emphasis. He felt Yuuri physically tense as Wolfram's breath brushed against his ear.

"Well...ehm... I called Bob before we left and asked him about...well...y'know..." Yuuri said, twiddling his thumbs together.

"No, I don't know. Care to elaborate?" Yuuri gazed out of the black tinted windows. Avoiding Wolfram's demanding look, he replied.

"It's, um, about what I told you yesterday. He explained that he could help and sent Dr. Rodriguez here from a nearby hospital to give us a lift."

"I see. So you're still going along with it?"

"Of course I am! I told you already, nothing can stop me...My dad used to teach me things. Small things. Unimportant lessons." He said, still looking out of the window, but not really taking anything in. "I always believed what he said. He was never one to lie to a person, especially not people he was close to. I always trusted him. He taught me how to be ready for taking the throne in Shin Makoku. I never even realised it. He also taught me that nothing was impossible, that if you really put your mind and heart into it, that you could do it. I believe that whole-heartedly and I will do whatever I can to reach my goal. I will take them back to Shin Makoku with me." He said the last sentence more to himself than to Wolfram. Wolfram just stared at him. Yuuri had said some pretty impressive things since they had met, and this was one of them. He didn't know how to reply. He just copied Yuuri and looked out of his window.

"My father used to sat stuff like that to me too." Catching Yuuri's attention, Wolfram continued. "He died a while back. I never forgot the words he used to tell me. He'd tell me a fable every night before bed, each one with a different lesson." Wolfram laughed slightly at the memories in his head. "I was such a terrible child. I barely acknowledged them back then, in fact one night I even laughed at one of them. My father laughed to, but he told me I'd understand it when I'm older."

"Wolf..."

"I miss him a lot, it been so long now." Wolfram started to quiet down slightly. "I'm sorry Yuuri, you have to go through the same thing I did, but I'll...be with you through it all..." With a big yawn, Wolfram's eyes started to drift shut. Yuuri gave a small laugh in response as he remembered Wolfram hadn't slept since the moment Yuuri had found him lying on the couch in his front room. Wolfram was too strong of a person to have realised he was tired this whole time. With Wolfram's strong-will personality, it was true that sleep was another form of weakness that he refused to submit to. Right now, though, Yuuri guess that Wolfram knew that he was safe, and would feel better sleeping knowing that than sleeping in any other situation. He wouldn't leave his fiancé unguarded recklessly. Yuuri was safe with his mother and Rodriguez, and who was going to attack them when they were in a car riding to an airport? No one knew who he was here, so there was no need to prepare for an assassination attempt.

In other words, he was completely safe on Earth. Though, he found he felt safer when Wolfram was around.

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**A/N :**

**Weeheeheheee, all done!

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**Review Responses : ((Thanks for reviewing!))**

_Haha, I got you all there, didn't I? ;)_

_IloveAnimeVeryMuch123_

_D: I would never add that to a story, real events like that should be purely fiction. And how much of a terrible person would I be if I did that to Japan willingly, and all the other places the tsunami affected? I would never forgive myself._

_Miyuki Meiru _

_I didn't leave as long this time, yay me! And thanks, the plot isn't entirely thought out yet, but I know exactly how it will end. :)_

_WezL_

_Nope, no he doesn't. Teehee. Gotcha'. ;)

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**Thanks for the compliments everyone, and keep up with the good reviewing! (5,000 hits? D'ohmygosh!)  
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	11. Bob, the Demon King of Earth

**Chapter 10 – Bob, the Demon King of Earth**

* * *

The plane ride hadn't been so bad, though waking Wolfram up had been somewhat troublesome. After getting on the plane late, Wolfram had taken to gazing out of the window, whilst Yuuri was bored out of his head and decided to engage in small talk with the blonde.

And now, they were in Switzerland. Somewhere on road to Bob's 'castle'. Rodriguez hadn't said much at all and when he did, it was either to state where they were, what time it was, or how close they were. To Yuuri's relief, he was keeping his end of the deal and not mentioning anything.

Yuuri liked how this was going...he just didn't like his reasoning behind it. It seemed to him that his mother was doing well to keep herself composed. He could tell she was bothered by it more than she was showing. She'd cried of course. Once. Once? She was a mother and a wife. She might still be a mother, but it hurts any mother when they lose their child, even more so when they lose their husband at the same time. There was no way she had fully recovered. It would be to soon.

Another thing that was bothering Yuuri was that right now, he remembered his position.

Shin Makoku. King. King of Shin Makoku. _King_ of Shin _Makoku_. He was _king_ of a country. How man days – _weeks_ – had he been gone? Wolfram wouldn't know. He'd have no way of knowing. The only person he could try to ask was Bob, but he still doubted Bob would have any idea. Besides, he was already asking a lot of Bob, there was no need to know really. He'd been gone long periods of time before, this was just the same, right?

"...Hey, Wolfram?"

"Yuuri?"

"I was wondering, is there any way that, from Earth, I could watch Shin Makoku?"

"You mean like keeping an eye on everyone? Not one that I've ever heard of. Why would you need to do that, anyway? You're supposed to go back there after you've finished everything you've done here."

"I thought that was what I was supposed to do there," Yuuri said, more to himself than anyone else. "What about when I'm here though? In situations like..the one I'm in now?" Yuuri finished, looking at Wolfram now.

"But, you're going back when we get there aren't you?" Wolfram crossed his arms disapprovingly. "_Right?_"

"..A-actually, I was planning on-"

"Yuuri, look. We need you back in Shin Makoku, that was the whole reason I'm here. To get you back. You have issues to resolve." Wolfram thrust his head in the opposite direction.

"Issues?.. Like what? I don't remember anything going wrong before I left." Yuuri said, looking slightly confused.

""Firstly, there's the fact that when a country's king isn't there, the enemies try to take advantage of the weakness. And then there's the issue of _your_ paper work." Wolfram replied, counting them off on his fingers, but also watching Yuuri from the corner of his eyes to check if he was getting it. " Also the desire for new equipment from the soldiers, but of course that was an issue before you left. Then there's the issue of our wedding-"

"Whoa, whoa...Slow down. That last one's not really ha-ha, an _issue_, is it?"

"Yes. It is. You slapped me about a year ago. It has been far too long, thus is now an issue. To me." Wolfram averted his gaze towards the window. Yuuri's uneasiness was just oozing out of him and it made Wolfram insecure. Surely being proposed to a year ago, a wedding had to be happening soon. Wolfram wanted it, obviously, but Yuuri wasn't so sure, he wasn't even sure of himself.

"Wolfram. I'm not gay, I can't marry a man."

"...So I've been told..." Wolfram replied, quietly.

"Ah-" Yuuri was about to reply, when he noticed the car coming to a halt.

"Guys, unbuckle. We're here." True to an over-joyed sounding Rodriguez, out of the car window was a huge skyscraper. It was built from glass, or at least that's how it looked to the naked eye. The sun reflected off it, making how high it was unclear. They'd parked just east of it and were only a few minutes walk from the door.

Wolfram was first to leave with what looked a hurried exit. Yuuri followed not a second later.

* * *

Upon walking through the door, the placed hadn't changed. The building definitely looked bigger on the inside, even if it was _huge_ on the outside. They followed – almost – the same path the had when they'd first been in the building, but taking the door to the left instead of the diversion from the '_warm welcome_' they'd had last time. It was awkwardly quiet. The place seemed empty, though they knew it wasn't. No one said anything until they reached the huge double doors, not even when they were opened to reveal an older looking man wearing a jet black suit sitting several metres across the floor.

Bob looked indifferent, as always. His black hair was combed back, his glasses slipping down his nose in the same place as always. Apparently, the building wasn't the only thing that hadn't changed. He was sitting at his desk with a blonde woman stood next to him. She was familiar.

Stepping forward, Yuuri made his way towards the desk. The other three stayed back. For now, Yuuri looked like he knew what he was doing.

"Bob, I'd like to thank you for offering to help, even if there's nothing you can do." A small smile appeared on Yuuri's face. "But, if there is anything, I will do whatever I can to help you do it. Dad and Shouri mean too much to me just to have them left here...not when I'm hoping to-"

"Move you and your mother to Shin Makoku? Did she agree to that?" The first lines out of Bob's mouth, and Yuuri froze. In actual fact, she had been avoiding the question. He'd tried, but he'd never received a real answer. It was odd that his mother was avoiding the question: she'd never kept anything from him before, why start now? Especially in the turn of recent events. But then again, Yuuri hadn't noticed she'd been avoiding it until Bob mentioned it. And Wolfram...Well, he did say he only came to Earth to take Yuuri back, but if he had noticed, why hadn't he said anything?

"W-well she didn't agree...as such..but, um, she didn't disagree. Let's just say...she never answered when I asked." Yuuri let out, feeling defeated. Here he was trying to help his mother, and yet it was seemingly harder than he thought.

"Does that mean she's not going with you?" Bob was good at this whole manipulation thing, but what was he trying to do? He was succeeding in making Yuuri feel uneasy and self-conscious. Yuuri turned to look at his mother. She looked fine, all smiles and what not, but still. It didn't feel right. It felt weird. She didn't look happy, even with the smiles, but she didn't look sad either. She was just standing next to Wolfram, who looked bored, waiting to be told what she was here for.

"I'm not sure what it means. But I want her there with me. I'm not going to leave her here alone. She's never been alone. Ever. She's always had someone around her, if not Dad, then it was Shouri and if it wasn't him then it was a friend from the neighbourhood. Right now, I'm pretty sure she- we are still worked up over..." Yuuri stopped. He couldn't say it. He couldn't understand how his mother was capable of keeping up the front, he'd always known she was strong, but in this way too? Emotionally strong? Yuuri had never been emotionally strong, and he never though of his father as strong either knowing the amount of times his mother had won in an argument with him. He wasn't strong, Shouri wasn't strong, he wanted to become strong. It seemed Miko was the strongest one in the family.

"All right then. Should we have a talk with her?" Standing up, Bob gestured the woman over. She approached them, still holding the smile whilst Wolfram stayed put. This wasn't his business and he had no need or desire to interrupt in it. He leaned casually against the wall and watched as she made her way to her sons side.

"Mum-"

"Mama, Yuu-chan." Yuuri made a face. As expected as that was, that was unexpected. He knew she'd say it, but straight away? "Hello again, Bob. It's good to see you are well."

"As are you, I can see. Do you know why Yuuri has come, Jennifer?" Miko shook her head. That was a good sign. That meant she hadn't over heard them talking, although Yuuri still had his doubts. It was common knowledge that his mother was full of surprises.

"I see. Yuuri, are you going to tell her?" He visibly stiffened. He wasn't ready for that. He was expecting them to go over preparations here. He didn't expect he'd actually have to tell his mother now.

"A-actually-"

"Yuu-chan, is there something you have to tell mama? You can tell me anything. Go on." She said, but it wasn't at all reassuring. If Yuuri wasn't ready, how on Earth or Shin Makoku would she be ready? Wait. She was able to put up this front...and for so long. Yuuri gulped. Telling her was the hard part.

From afar, Wolfram could see the panic in Yuuri's eyes. His first reaction was a palm to the head and a 'I told you so' but that wouldn't really do any good. He'd been waiting for the part where Yuuri would show what and how he'd prepare for this moment, but now he could see the wimpiness he knew would never change. From now, he'd make it official to have Yuuri scheme a plan before going through with it. All this time wasting was unnecessary. Then again, he'd seen it coming. If only Yuuri understood the consequences of most of his actions...

"_Mama_, you never answered my question." Yuuri said, purposely avoiding her eyes.

"..What question was that, hun?" She looked confused, and it worked to convince Yuuri that she'd forgotten, but Wolfram thought otherwise. Miko had remembered everything as far as he had known, and if she hadn't, it was unimportant from then on.

"Mother. Would you come and live with me in Shin Makoku?" It wasn't more than a whisper, but it was enough to make everyone but Bob gasp.

"Y-Yuu-chan?"

"I just think it'll be easier for you if you're with me. We could get through this together. Dad and Shouri mean the world to me, and I know it's no different with you. We'll take them with us. I wont have to come back here again and I'll be able to run the country properly...It's perfect, right?" Yuuri turned to look at her. There were tears in her eyes. And Yuuri himself was on the verge of tears. There was no clear confirmation on her face anywhere.

Miko stepped forwards and wrapped her arm's around him.

"Thank you, Yuuri. Thank you for trying to make this easier. Thank you for trying to ease the pain." A tear fell from her eye, but she made no move to wipe it away. "Thank you, but Yuuri, things like these happen in life. I loved your father and my son, and I love you, but there are some things that we have to accept. You have no need to make such a decision because of this. You should be able to come back here whenever to see me, wasn't that one of the joys of being such a grown up man, huh Yuuri?" She smiled, hugging all the more tighter. "You don't have to give up a whole planet just for me, Yuuri." Yuuri's eyes were blurry with tears. He returned the hug, but he was lost in his mind. Did that mean she was staying? But wouldn't that be harder? Wouldn't it be easier for her to go to Shin Makoku to get away from the memories and live with her son, knowing he wasn't going to come to harm any time soon? Would she rather live alone, as a widow, with no one around her?

"But-"

"No, Yuuri." She smiled even wider. "What would they think of a king who needs their mother around to protect him? How would that look?" Yuuri almost laughed. "Besides, it's nice here, wouldn't you agree?"

"But I don't-"

"Yuuri, if I came with you, I'd only be a burden." Yuuri eyes grew sizes. That wasn't true. Not at all. Having her there would be a privilege. But, thinking over it again, would having his mother there benefit her more, or him? When put that way, it sounded more selfish. But he really wanted for her to come.

"That's not true!" Yuuri yell, almost chocking on his words as the tears started to fall. "I want you there so you can be happy. I want you there so we can be happy. You don't have to stay at the castle, I'll find somewhere for you to live an I'll come visit whenever I can!" Miko didn't argue, she just held Yuuri tighter.

Wolfram just stared. Everything that Yuuri said was doable, so why wouldn't she agree? Was there something keeping her back?

"Now, Demon King. About your family."

"Huh?" Yuuri looked up at Bob.

"We've been given the caskets. They're all ready for us to go through the ritual. We can start whenever you're ready."

"Hmm." Yuuri nodded. This was finally it. No more waiting. He'd be back in Shin Makoku, with his mother, his brother, and his father. If only he was there to see it.

* * *

Murata let out a loud sigh. This was getting annoying. He was sat on the stairs watching his parents were rushing around the house getting ready to leave again, though he didn't know what for. All he knew was that after receiving a phone call and agreeing to whatever was said, they were send into a frenzy of 'Where's this?' and 'Where's that?'. And frankly, Murata had had it. It was close to midnight. Any responsible parents wouldn't dare leave their sixteen year old alone to babysit their 4 year old sister. Especially not when they didn't trust him. So just what was so important.?

"Kenny, are mummy and daddy leaving again?"

"Mayumi? Hmm, yeah." He said, putting an arm around her back and pulling her onto his knee. She was a small child, she barely weighed a thing whenever Murata picked her up.

"What for this time?" She sounded so innocent. It almost made Murata smile to know that he was her favourite. She'd always said she liked him best because he would hug her and play with her when she was bored. She hated her parents when they left. They were constantly leaving. If it wasn't work, then something had coincidentally 'come up'. Murata knew why they just loved leaving. It hurt him to know that even if he told her, she wouldn't understand. Not at her age, anyway. Because he knew that they were scared of him. Their own son. They'd tried as much as they could to get him out of the house, they used Rodriguez to take him away whenever he had a 'weird dream'. They'd sent him to nursery early just to get him out of the house. And they were more than overjoyed when he was old enough to start school. They had him take ever club he could just to keep him there longer. Though it wasn't long before he realised what they were doing. He wasn't as stupid or 'crazy' as he sounded. Every club he'd been to, every doctor he'd seen had just helped him grow stronger and stronger and smarter. His parents weren't expecting him to get anywhere, and he was sure that they'd love to get rid of him the first chance they had. That wasn't the case with Mayumi, but they still weren't around enough for her to actually get to know them well enough. And small children are scared of strangers.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like they're in a hurry."

"Hmm, Kenny, read me a bedtime story?"

"You should be asleep already, May."

"But they're being noisy. I can't sleep when they're wrushing around like this." She hid her face in his shoulder; she looked tired, but Murata decided it was better to wait till they'd actually left the premises before putting her back to bed.

"Okay, okay. When they've driven away. Which book tonight?"

"Not the scawry ones..." She said, hiding her face deeper and deeper into his sweater.

"Of course not. How about...I tell you a story?" She looked up at him this time with pleading eyes and a huge grin.

"Sure! Kenny tells amazing stowries. Hahah!" Murata laughed along with her. He tapped her on the nose lightly. What a joy it was to have siblings, he thought. Mayumi was the only reason he came home for longer periods now. Shin Makoku didn't have anyone like her around, the Great One was a long shot from the type of person he liked to be around.

Murata grinned as he picked her up and carried her up the stairs then turned the corner and entered her room. He lay her down on her bed and started tucking her in.

"Hahah, that tickles!" She started wriggling under his hands whilst he was trying to keep her still.

"Hey, hey. Stop moving!" Murata laughed too. She did this every time. "Okay, what type of story do you want?"

"Um...Oh! That love story, about that king!" Murata nodded and ruffled her hair.

"That one again? Okay, then. Once upon a time, four thousand years ago..."

* * *

"Is this everything?" Yuuri asked, looking at the pool before him. There were two caskets sitting at the bottom. He'd been overwhelmed when he saw them, and it took a while for him to calm down. It was a horrible feeling. When he'd asked his mother if she was okay, she'd just put an arm around his shoulders and nodded. Yuuri was glad that pretending they weren't in there was working for the time being. He'd keep thinking that until they got to Shin Makoku and everything should go on as planned.

"Yes." Bob replied. "We'll have you, Lord von Bielefeld and your mother travel between them. If you keep a proper focus the whole trip, they should stay where they are. When you arrive, I'm not sure where you'll be wanting to end up, but where ever it is, you may need someone to help you carry them." Yuuri nodded.

"Yuuri."

"Wolf?"

"Can I speak to you? Just for a moment."

"Of course, what is it?"

"Follow me." Wolfram turned and walked out of a door close to where he was standing. Yuuri followed on after excusing himself and caught him up.

"Wolfram, what's wrong?"

"Yuuri, are you sure you're okay with this? I mean, that's your brother and your father. And how will you explain this when we get to Shin Makoku? Will you be able to handle that?" Yuuri didn't answer. His fringe was covering his eyes, so Wolfram couldn't tell if he was looking at him or something else. "Yuuri?"

"...No...no. I-I can handle it. I'll- I'll tell them what happened. I'll... tell them the truth. I can tell them. Wolfram. I can tell them." Wolfram saw something shine on Yuuri's face. He stepped closer, until they were almost touching. Yuuri was crying.

"Yuuri...Please, don't cry." Yuuri shook his head slightly.

"Wolf... I don't want to cry..."

"Yuuri, it's okay. You can cry if you need to." Wolfram hesitated, but he wrapped his arms around Yuuri, bringing him closer to his chest. "Calm down, Yuuri. It'll be fine. We'll take them to Shin Makoku. Everyone will love to help you with the funeral, and they'll be overjoyed to hear that you're back. They're all really worried about you. You left without saying anything, so I chased after you. I'm worried about you too, Yuuri and I-"

"...Thanks, Wolf."

"For what?" Wolfram replied, stoking Yuuri's hair in effort to calm him down.

"...Being here.,," The reply was slow, but it made Wolfram smile.

"Hah, it's not like a wimp like you could've stopped me."

"I'm...not a wimp." Yuuri said, leaning his head on Wolfram's chest. "Not a wimp. I'm just...sensitive."

"Oh, yeah? And I'm a smiling Gwendal." Yuuri choked out a little laugh. "Come on, we have to get back to mother and the others. They're all waiting for you."

"Mmm." Yuuri replied weakly, but with more enthusiasm. "But Wolfram. Seriously. Thank you."

"Haha, come on." Wolfram replied, grabbing Yuuri's hand and dragging him back to the pool side.

* * *

"There was a king. He never had a name, or I suppose he just never told anyone it. Anyway, he was strong. Stronger than everyone else and all the people followed him. He was amazingly powerful and after beating the almighty Originators, he started to build his kingdom."

"So, he's not king yet?"

"He is, but they had to vote that first. Though there's no way he could have lost, there was no one more powerful than him...Not for a long time after that either. But, we're getting side tracked. He had a certain follower. Someone even he looked up to. Someone who never left his side."

"The Sage?" She yelled, sitting back up again. Murata laughed and pushed her back down gently.

"Don't mess up my work; I just tucked you in." He started tucking her back in and carried on. "The Sage was always by his side. He helping him win against the Originators by coming up with a strategy to beat them. The king was proud of him, he often praised him. And not only for his work during the war, but for his beauty, his compassion and his dedication."

"They're both male, right?"

"Yup."

"But, isn't that dangewous? I thought two men weren't allowed to be together..." She said, eyeing Murata with a curious look.

"There's no rules against it."

"Oh...Yeah, you're right. Carry on, hehe."

"The king fell in love with the Sage. And for years, he lived hiding it. The Sage lived, completely unaware of his feelings. He never mentioned them. The Sage was smart, genius even, but he never knew anything abut love, because we both know that-

"Adults are naïve when it comes to love!" She giggled, saying it dramatically.

"Right!" Murata replied, giving a small applause. "Then one day, the King go a little too close to the Sage, by accident of course. He was reading a book, and the king was bored. The king was also curious, so he lent over-"

"A little too far..." She quickly covered the smirk with her hand to barricade her laughter.

"May! Stop interrupting, if you do that, I'll wont get the chance to finish."

"..Sorry" She whispered, sinking lower into the covers. It looked like she was just getting more comfortable instead of trying to shy away from Murata's 'wrath'.

"Hmm, where was I? Oh, so he leant over – and yes, a little to far – and fell. Right on top of the Sage. When he looked up, he was looking right into the Sages wide black eyes. He smiled, a big wide, beautiful, grin. He started playing with the Sages hair, whilst sitting on his knee. He found it all funny; the Sage, not so much. But he had to admit he was enjoying the attention. It wasn't everyday the _king _was allowed to joke around like that, so it was nice when they could share special moments like that. Sitting under a tree, alone and- May?" There was no response other than a small snort. "N'ah, she fell asleep. At the goo part too. I never seem to finish that story..." Murata ruffled her hair again, she was such a cute child. It was a shame her parents didn't make more time for her, she always seemed so down and lonely.

Muarta stood up off the bed and gave Mayumi a peck on the cheek. She stirred slightly and rolled onto her side. Murata just chuckled to himself.

"...Maybe one day I'll tell her the whole story. Aah, but right now, this Sage has to sleep. I'm burnt out." Stretching his arms, Murata made his way out, turning the lights off as he went. He entered his own room and fell flat on his bed, not even bothering to change.

"Hmm, I wonder how Shibuya's doing. I hope he's okay. Though I supposed he has Bielefeld with him. Then again, _that's_ a whole challenge on it's own. Good luck with that Shibuya." Murata said, smiling to himself before rolling on his side, pulling up the covers and eventually falling asleep.

* * *

**A/N**

**Ahh, finally. Sorry for the late update. Now, here's my _valid_ excuse. All my chapters are saved onto the laptop, which charger inconveniently broke. We wont be getting a new one for about two weeks. So until then, no updates for Maou for a Day or Scandalous. Their chapters are almost done, so I'm not starting them over like I have this one. It did start differently, but I've changed it.**

**Anyway, this is just a chapter for character development. Mostly on Murata's and Mayumi's side. **

**Fwaah, that's all. Sorry for taking so long but I only decided to restart this yesterday because of my irritating desire to write. Any mistakes are thanks to this good-for-nothing keyboard and all it's stiff keys. D: Most annoying thing ever. **

**Thanks for reading.**

**Review if you liked, review if you didn't. Reiews equals Yuuram. ;D**

* * *

**Review Replies (Thanks for reviewing :D)**

_**Miyuki Meiru**_

**Aah! This time it wasn't my fault. D: I'm sorry. Feel free to throw socks at me...**

_**WezL**_

**Me too, but everyone has their moments.**

_**IloveAnimeVeryMuch123**_

_**I try.**_

_**StandingOnTheRooftops**_

**Why thank you. By the way, just thought you should know, the moment I saw you're name I burst into "Standing on the rooftops, everybody scream your heart out". Good times, good times.**

* * *

Thanks for reading! Y'know, I might sound like a weirdo, but I really _am _one.


	12. Entering Shin Makoku

Chapter 11 – Entering Shin Makoku

Wolfram stared, If he had a say in any of this, he wouldn't be jumping into the over-seven-foot-deep pool before him. He'd always tried to stay away from deep water, a fountain or a bath was fine, a swimming pool?_ No thank you_. He knew that being around Yuuri meant deep water would be a consequence because he had made a pact with the water elements, but he was still allowed to hate it. Fire and water were opposites, Wolfram didn't understand how Yuuri hadn't guessed he had a phobia of deeper water. Maybe he was starting to? Or maybe he was just wondering why Wolfram had such an uneasy face on...

"Wolf, are you okay?" Yuuri almost shouted across the room, whilst toying with his clothes nervously.

"Eh?" Wolfram looked up, temporarily distracted. "I'm fine. Why?" Yuuri stared Wolfram down. There was something about that look that made Wolfram even more uneasy.

"Tell the truth, Wolf. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing. I am telling the truth." Wolfram wasn't looking at him.

"No, you're not. I can see it in your eyes. If I've got this right, you've never lied to me, so you're not used to it. That's why you're so tense right now."

"Am not, stop caring too much. Now shush, Yuuri, there are other people in here too, you know." Wolfram replied with a finger to his lips, motioning to his mother and Bob. Yuuri nodded, but he still wasn't convinced.

It wasn't that Wolfram was lying, it was just that he didn't want to make any more trouble for anyone. Trouble was the last thing everyone wanted right now. But Wolfram should have guessed Yuuri wasn't going to believe him, Yuuri already knew that Wolfram was too stubborn to even think of telling him what was bothering him. And Yuuri wasn't going to force an answer out of him, it wasn't in his nature. That would also be going against Wolfram, and that would just make Wolfram feel awkward, having it forced out of him. If he was unwilling to say anything, let him be, that was how Yuuri saw it every time Wolfram refused to say anything.

It was weird. Shin Makoku was just a dive into water away, yet it felt much further. Yuuri looked around the room. He could see his mother sitting at the pool side with her legs kicking the surface of the water. Why was it that she wasn't going to stay with him? Was it something he'd done? Did he bring up bad memories for her? But, surely Earth would too. It would be easier to ask her, but Yuuri didn't feel comfortable with that. It was sort of obvious that she didn't want to be around him. He just didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear his mother say she didn't want him. He wanted her, and he wanted her with him.

* * *

No one had noticed Rodriguez slip out of the room. He had business to attend to. He'd packed some unsigned papers into a suitcase and hurried from the building into, back into the car he previously used and drove away. He was on his way to the airport.

He'd had a report in about a baby that supposedly matched the specified details. If the parents agreed, he would be able to take the soul extracted from the older Shibuya brother and have it placed into the unborn baby before it develop it's own soul. If that had already happened, the baby would not accept the extra soul and he'd be sent back on his hunt. He was enjoying the experience, but if he had to start again from the beginning, things would get frustrating. The lack of demon babies around was disheartening. He wasn't expecting a full demon baby - a half would be fine - but even finding a half demon baby was proving to be a challenge.

There was also the baby itself. Just because he had the parents permission, it didn't mean he had the baby's. If the baby didn't accept the soul, he'd be back to square one. That would only happen if the baby had already prematurely developed a soul or if it wasn't actually a demon. Full demon parents carry two demon chromosomes, if they reproduced with a half or none demon, there was a chance the baby would either be full demon, or half demon. But if a half conceived with a half or none demon, the baby might be a full human. They wouldn't be able to test DNA until the baby was born and then it'd be too late to remove the soul safely. A demon chromosome was hard too find too. Demon chromosomes act the same way humans do, they hold the information to create the child. The problem with that is there are only subtle differences between them that distinguish which they are. A demon chromosome could be for hair, nails, eyes, anything really. The same as human chromosomes. It was easy to tell if the baby was demon when it was born though, they came with bright coloured hair and eyes, a long with a truly beautiful body shape. As rare as full demon babies were, there should be at least three half demon babies a day. And now Rodriguez had the lead he was waiting for. And he was chasing it's tail.

* * *

'Shin Makoku, eh?' Miko thought to herself. It was a big decision. Moving away from the place you'd lived all your life to another, where they speak another language and have a completely different culture than the one you've been living in. It would be an amazing experience to live in Shin Makoku – and with her son as the king, it would be amazing to see him grow up to be a great ruler – but she wouldn't feel right leaving Earth. From what she'd heard, demons weren't so welcoming to humans, despite Yuuri's attempts to merge the two species together. Even so, she'd had so many experiences on Earth; she was born and raised on Earth, she had a family on Earth, she had so many memories of Earth.

But then again, wasn't that the same for Yuuri? He had a family on Earth, he was born and raised on Earth, he _had_ a family on Earth...and yet... She didn't understand how Yuuri could make the decision for her to move over there. Wasn't that a bit selfish of him? Well, it may have been, but wasn't she being selfish by not staying with him. He'd be in Shin Makoku, so she wouldn't have a family on Earth any more. He'd be in Shin Makoku, so even with the old memories, she wouldn't be able to make any more.

Should she reconsider?

* * *

"Now, Yuuri, I'm going to tell you how this will work. Your powers may be unique to you, but you're not the only one who has been able to travel between worlds. I have created several ways. My ancestors linked this very water so closely to Shin Makoku, that when a powerful demon touches it, the way you do when you are travelling , they will be sucked into the current and taken to the Demon World. Lord Bielefeld and yourself must touch it at the same time. Your maryoku may be powerful, but his is too. Remember that I never said the person travelling had to make a pact with that element. Lord Bielefeld would even be able to make it to Shin Makoku alone by touching this water. But you have to be very careful. I can't control where you're going to end up. You will have to do decided the location between you, your mother and Lord Bielefeld. Do you understand so far?" Yuuri nodded. It was a lot to take in, but he'd learnt from Günter's lessons that breathing isn't always necessary for some and that when learning new things, there really _is_ a lot more to do with one subject than you think.

"Also, if, by chance, you end up in the wrong place, I cannot help you from Earth. I can assure your safe arrival, but that is it. If you and Lord Bielefeld were to think something different, you will ether end up separated, or end up an equal distance away from both locations." Yuuri gave Wolfram a reassuring look, but he didn't seem to notice. It didn't look like Wolfram was even paying any attention, but Yuuri knew him better than that. Wolfram had probably heard everything better than he had. "Are you all ready to leave?"

Wolfram stood quickly, hurrying over to Yuuri's side as soon as he'd heard the word 'leave'. Yuuri gave him a look, but once again, he didn't seem to notice it.

"Wolfram, we have to think where we're going to end up."

"The castle, of course." Wolfram said with an underlying tone of 'you idiot'. But the look on Yuuri's face stopped him from saying anything more. Did Yuuri intend to lead them somewhere else?

"Wolf, maybe we should try somewhere else...The temple maybe?" Yuuri said nonchalantly.

"...Why?"

"Um, well maybe the castles not that good of an idea. What'll happen when we end up in the bathroom with two..." Yuuri stopped, but Wolfram knew what he was talking about.

"Don't worry, we'll explain- I'll explain what's going on to the guards. They'll understand."

"...Wolf."

"Hey, just because you're king doesn't mean you're the only one who can order the guards around. They're my subordinates too."

"...No, Wolf. I meant to say thank you."

"..." Wolfram blushed a bit. "...You keep saying that today..."

"That's because I mean it."

"Hm. I'll believe you. Okay, so where should we think of?"

"...That, I don't know. If we travel to the temple, the Great One might interfere. We don't have Murata to distract him either. Ah, this is harder than I thought it'd be."

"Nothing new about that, Yuuri." Wolfram replied mockingly. "Anyway, I have an idea. How about..."

* * *

Murata stirred in his sleep. He wasn't comfortable at all. The bed was cold, the room was too light because of the moon streaming through his black curtains and he hadn't changed for bed. He opened his eyes slowly and tried to wake himself up more by sitting up. It worked for a few seconds, but he really did feel oddly exhausted. He turned his head to face his alarm clock. It wouldn't go off for another 6 hours. How convenient. He'd woken up at 1am. He stared out of the window towards the end of his bed. The full moons rays beamed down into his room through them. He'd forgotten to close them before going to sleep.

"This is troublesome. Now I'll never get any sleep." Murata swung his legs off the side of his bed. His parents had left earlier, and by the quiet of the house, it didn't sound like they'd returned. Where had they even gone? I must've been something important for them to need to rush off like that. And without his consent too – not that he controlled them, but he would like to think they'd listen to their son. He'd liked to think that, but that didn't make any difference to the reality that he was currently living. His parents were scared of him, he'd figured that out. They always seemed to be hiding what they really though of him, and they'd never get too close to him. It was as if he was...dangerous.

"I might as well get up now that I'm awake," Murata sighed to himself. "Um. Something to do to kill time...? I could always go back to- No, I can't leave Mayumi here alone even if she's asleep. And I know by now that they wont be back for a long time. Every chance they get to leave, the don't hesitate to spend as much time away as they can get. They know I'll take care of Mayumi on my own, because I can. Well, if that's how they feel," Murata smirked to himself. "Then I'll just have to take her with me."

Murata left his room the way it was and opened Mayumi's door slowly. He didn't want to wake her up, but he knew he'd have to.

"May..?" Murata stepped in and stealthily glided across the carpet. He knew there was no point in being immensely quiet, but hey, it was fun. "May..? You awake?" She turned over to face him, her eyes wide.

"I knew you'd come back here. I was waiting." She smiled in a way that looked like Murata so much it surprised even him.

"May, it's creepy when you look like me, stop it." He laughed. He had to love his little sister, she was just too amazing. "Besides, I have somewhere I want us to go. We'll be away from home for a while, but don't worry, we wont miss anything." _And neither will our parents. _Mayumi kept the look on her face.

"Where? Where are we going? We cawn't go anywhere at this time, it's too early." She shook his finger in front of his face. "We'll be told off if we're found."

"Haha, since when were you worried about getting in trouble?" Murata ruffled her fringe. "We won't get caught, trust me. In fact, we won't get in trouble either." _Because where we're going, I'm in charge._

Mayumi nodded, jumped off her bed excitedly and ran over to her drawers.

"May? We wont need a change of clothes, just follow me."

"Bu- You said we'd be away for a while, down't tell me you lied. I don't want my clothes getting all smewy either." She sniffed at herself to get her point across.

"They'll have stuff for us there, don't worry about it." Murata motioned for her to follow him as he left the room. She raced behind him and caught up as he reached the bathroom.

"Well, if you need to go first, better to be safe than sorry. I'll wait for you he-"

"No, May. I said follow. If I needed the bathroom, I wouldn't need you there to help me." _I'll explain this to you one day, but right now, we just need to get away from here for a while._

"Oh..." She ran past Murata into the bathroom, and even though she wasn't expecting anything, she had to admit that not seeing anything out of the ordinary made her feel a bit stupid for being excited.

"Don't run around in the dark. It's not safe." Murata said as he turned the lights on. "Come on, May. Help me fill the bath." She shot him a confused look, but turned to face the empty tub with a nod. Murata knelt by her side and turned on both taps.

* * *

Wolfram was looking at Yuuri and Yuuri was looking at him.

"Why there?" Yuuri asked. It didn't sound like a bad idea, but it was a bit too far away, right?

"Well, it's not that far from the castle. We walked there once, remember? Also, it's safe there because it's in the mazoku lands. We'll be fine if we wait there for the soldiers to arrive. We wont get ambushed in a wide open place, every good strategists know that it's riskier for the offending to do that. We'll be safe as long as we stay there." Wolfram replied, returning Yuuri's curious glances.

"Won't it get cold?"

"What are you worrying about that for, you wimp? Shin Makoku will be in spring about now. And from personal experience, I know that it's colder here than it is there." Wolfram scowled. That was a petty thing to get worried over. Though he had seen the effects of Yuuri in the cold earlier. He classed that as an exception in his head though because Yuuri wasn't completely dressed. They'd been up in the snowy mountains to find the cure for the miasma before and he was fine then, so it was probably just his failure to cover up properly.

Yuuri inwardly cringed. Wolfram was easily annoyed, especially when people around him acted stupid. He didn't appreciated being treated like a fool, or hanging around them. Yuuri had tried to steer clear of saying something that would put Wolfram in that mood, but it seemed anything could trigger that sort of reaction. And when he got annoyed around Yuuri, it made him feel stupid. Wolfram shouldn't be allowed to make him feel like that, what gave him the right?

Yuuri could actually hear Wolfram's ever qualifying, snappy comeback of _'You're my fiancé' _And as much as that was true, it was an accident. Yuuri had given him the right when he slapped him. What was this, payback? Was the comeback because Wolfram still felt embarrassed about being engaged to him?

Yuuri looked at Wolfram. He was playing with the laces on the pair of shoes Miko had given him. They belonged to Shouri. _They used to belong to Shouri. _Yuuri turned away. It still hurt him inside. He knew Shouri would be angry to know someone had borrowed his shoes. He wasn't one to fight with his mother, but Shouri had hated losing his things. He'd hated the alien feeling of when someone had worn them and they'd stretched or shrunk to fit their body shape instead of his. Why did everything remind him of the things he wanted to forget most? It was easier to think that he'd hit his head and he'd wake up from a horrible dream, or that Shouri and Shoma would wake up any second.

It was easier to run.

* * *

Murata swirled his finger in circles, creating small ripples in the water. The bath was almost full and he was more than convinced that they'd be back in time for their parents return. Mayumi was staring into the water as if there was supposed to be something in it. Why would Murata drag her here if there wasn't some kind of catch. There was nothing special about the bathroom, it had a toilet, a sink, a bath – which was now full – and a shower. It was just like any other bathroom. And the bathroom wasn't such a good idea of a place to spend a 'while' at because people would get ideas. Which left Mayumi even more confused.

Murata turned to look at her. He could practically see the cogs in her head turning rapidly as she tried to figure what Murata was doing. Murata has a past of playing cruel jokes on people, but Mayumi had always been watching them. She'd never thought he'd turn on her.

"May. When you're ready, we need to jump in. Hold my hand." He held his hand out to her, but she only stared, a puzzled look draped across her face.

"Kenny, we're fully dressed. We can't jump in, we'll get wet. You're so silly. Why are we jumping in anyway? I know it's fun bu-"

"Didn't I already tell you we'll get a change of clothes when we get there? Also, we're not just jumping into a bath...well we are, but you'll see." She took his hand hesitantly. She trusted him, that was true, but she also doubted anything would happen. Murata pulled her closer to him, picked her up and climbed into the bath. Before she knew what was happening the water started the swirl into one large whirlpool and they were taken with the current. She wanted to scream, but the laughter came first as they both disappeared into the water, leaving just their echo's in the empty bathroom. The only sound to be heard was the dripping of a tap that hadn't been turned off properly.

* * *

"If that's where we're going, the should we tell them we're ready to go?" Yuuri stretched his arms as he stood, yawing at the same time. Wolfram copied him, standing and getting ready to tell Bob that everything was sorted.

"Yeah, we should. You'd better not make any mistakes here. I don't want to end up somewhere we don't know about." Yuuri smiled.

"That's unlikely Wolf, I trust you." Yuuri started to walk away whilst Wolfram stood with wide eyes. He knew Yuuri trusted him, but he'd never said it out loud before. He didn't follow until Yuuri's conversation with Bob was well under way, and even then he wasn't completely paying attention. '_It's no good getting distracted' _Wolfram looked towards the floor. Even if Bob made it sound easy, hadn't the Great One already said that a fire mazoku travelling through water was going to be exhausted after the ride? Well, he had Yuuri. The Great One said it would take a toll on his body if he went alone, so he'd sent Murata with him.

Yuuri spun around quickly, not expecting Wolfram to be there.

"Wolf, we can go now. Bob said everything's ready." Yuuri said, with a huge grin. This was it, he'd go back home. His new _home_...Where _his family_ were...

Except his mother.

Yuuri's expression fell and Wolfram noticed it before he replied. But before he could reconsider what he was going to say Bob was ushering them towards the pool side. Miko too.

"You all have to jump at the same time. As long as you're in the water, you'll be transported." Bob said whilst lining them up properly. Yuuri gave a firm nod. He grabbed his mothers and, and Wolfram's and squeezed them. Wolfram squeezed back. That was reassuring. It meant Wolfram was nervous too. It calmed Yuuri down slightly. Wolfram understood. That's what gave Yuuri hope that everything was going to be okay.

"Ready?" Yuuri asked above the silence. He didn't need a reply though. "3...2...1!"

They jumped, and Miko – being the tallest – hit the water first. It wasn't until Yuuri and Wolfram – who were almost the same height. - came crashing down into the water that the current appeared. It tossed the three of them in all sorts of directions before sucking them into the large, black hole in the centre of the pool.

* * *

Gwendal groaned. This soldier before him was demanding he head over to he Great One's temple immediately. It wasn't a request. Why now, of all times? Clearly the king wasn't around to do his work and it had all been piled on him. It was a nuisance.

"Why am I required?" Gwendal was close to yelling and his irritation was growing quickly. It didn't matter though, he was still scaring the soldier. He was a lot smaller than Gwendal. By far.

"A-ah, yes! Well, Lady Ulrike has requested yourself and Lord Weller to be present, your excellency." The soldier couldn't look him in the eyes. Gwendal sure was _scary_. It was a wonder how his scowl managed to dig into his head as much as it did. His eyebrow twitch wasn't too inviting either.

"Yes, very well then." Did he ever look happy? "Tell them I shall be there shortly." No, he didn't. The soldier obeyed and left the room in a hurry. Gwendal rose from his seat. '_What was going on now? It'd better be something important. If it isn't...' _Gwendal shook his head. It didn't make any difference and he didn't need a reminder of what happened when you didn't go with the Great One's wishes. Even if it was Ulrike who _requested_ him, the Great One would actually be the one expecting him to show up.

Gwendal took a deep breath. When did people start making life more difficult than it had to be?

* * *

"Fetch a guard!" The Great One's eyes snapped open. '_Ulrike shouting? That must mean there's an emergency._' He sat up straight, looking bored...Until he saw her expression. Her eyes were wide and she was physically shaking. It was possible that she hadn't noticed him yet. He watched as a soldier hurried his way into the tomb, panting as he thrust the doors wide open.

"Lady Ulrike, what's going on?" The soldier asked, when he'd caught up with his breath.

"Fetch me Lord Weller. And Lord von Voltaire if possible." She said sternly, slightly rushing her words. Because of that, the Great One could tell she was panicking. Having known her for over 800 years, he hadn't seen her like this often.

"Looks like she's having trouble with something."

...! The Great One jumped. Since when had the Sage been back? Was she panicking over that? But if he hadn't noticed, Ulrike wouldn't have.

"She sure does!" A young girls voice?... There were no young girls in the shrine and nobody was allowed to bring outsiders in even if they were girls without permission. Who was she?

_'...The Great Sage's daughter?'_

"M-my Sage? When did you return?" this was fun. It seemed the sneaking up on the Great One did work after all. It felt great to see the expression of obvious surprise on his face. Tormenting him was the best. This was a rare moment.

"A few hours ago, actually." Murata replied smugly. "Sorry, but you're not my number one priority right now." The Great One's mouth fell to the floor. Any further and it would've snapped off. Murata was enjoying himself. _'Not me...But then...her? Is she his daughter? Do I no longer matter?'_

"So then, my Sage. Tell me, who is this beautiful child?" Murata was holding her hand tightly. She didn't seem to mind either. _'They're already that close? Well, I mean, of course. If that is his daughter...And their resemblance is rather uncanny...They'd have to have known each other for some time. That's only natural...But where did she come from?'_

"This would be my sister. Say hello to the Great One Mayumi. Great One, this is my _sister_ Mayumi." _'Sister! Yes..that does make more sense...' _

"Aha, of course she is. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you. My Sage has never spoken of you, sweet girl."

"Kenny is amazing!" She giggled. "The shrine maidens towld me everything! This is _the _Shin Makoku that he's always telling me stories about!...I'm just trying to find out which part everyone played." She grinned at him. It actually surprised him how much she looked like Murata.

"It's an honour to know that he's spoken of us. Now, why don't we have someone show a beautiful girl around a beautiful country?" The Great One watched her gasp in excitement before gesturing a maiden over and asking her to show the girl around. He introduced her and then watched as the two left the room through the adjacent doorway, Mayumi was practically jumping with happiness. He was beginning to like her.

"Stop getting stupid ideas." Murata's dig had caught him off guard. "If there was someone else, would I still be here by your side." Murata continued before slipping out of the same door the two before had leaving a wide-eyed Great One alone.

"Forever the mind reader." The Great One laughed quietly. "Nothing gets by you, my Sage."

it was at that moment Lord Weller made his appearance. By the way he'd lost his breath, anyone could tell he'd not taken his time getting there.

"Lady Ulrike. Tell me." He stopped for few breaths. "What's the problem?"

"His majesty is on his way back. He's not alone and it appears as though there is some rather heavy items with him."

* * *

**A/N **

**Finally. This would have been up sooner, but I wrote it on paper and had to type it up. Sorry for making you wait. **

**First thing, in the next few chapters starting from this one I'm going to be putting lines into this story from a certain anime. You just have to guess what it is. If you're right...I'll dedicate a chapter you. It's just for fun, and I want to know how many of you are up to the challenge. I'd love to see someone get it from just this chapter.**

**Anyway.**

**Yeah.**

**Review, or don't. The doors that way.**

* * *

**Review Replys.**

_Miyuki Meiru._

Well, just thought that Murata needs someone he's close to on Earth. It's not fair that he's always alone.

And Miko...she's having mid-life crisis?

_Rinoakim_

Thank you! :D Welcome to this kind of story. ^^ And I'm sorry for making you cry! My bad, but that was the aim...

Murata needed something to tell her. And she likes that one... She chose it.

I'm blushing. :) Thank you so much.

_Kriter_

Thank you! Gahh, I really want to put an exclamation point after your name. When I say it, it just feels like I should. X3

_Micro Chibi baka-san_

Thank you :D I'm glad you like it.

* * *

Random Life Lesson : Purposely ignoring the obvious is like walking backwards toward the enemy.


	13. In a Box

Chapter 11 – In a Box...

* * *

Conrad gasped. Seriously? Already? He would have thought Yuuri would be be gone longer than that. He didn't usually come back this...early...Was this because of Wolfram?

"I would like for you to arrange some guards to escort His Majesty back to the castle. You will need some carriages too. He has others with him..." It'd only been 15 days since Yuuri had left, which surprised Conrad. He wasn't expecting the, well not early but... unexpected quick return.

"So, he's on his way back?" Came the voice of Gwendal from the direction of the doors. He was stood there looking as terrifyingly elegant as he always did. It was as if he'd been there the whole time.

"Yes, Lord von Voltaire. He will arrive in Shin Makoku soon, in a place I believe you know very well." Gwendal's eyes widened slightly, so slightly if one blinked they would have missed it completely. Somewhere he knew very well? Then...?

"Hm. We'll send out Lord von Bielefeld's troop then. It will give them something to do other than their current lolly gagging that they seem to have taken to so well. It will get them out of the castle and they will get their troop lead back as soon as they arrive." Gwendal turned away and, with a swish of his tied-back hair, he disappeared down the hallway. Conrad bowed to Ulrike and then turned to follow Gwendal, leaving the her – almost – alone.

Conrad caught up with Gwendal as they neared the exit. Yuuri was back and now all they had to do was fet-

"'Ello, Captain!" Conrad and Gwendal jumped. A bright orange-haired male appeared before them. He was all smiles, as always.

"That was unnecessary, Gurrier." Gwendal retaliated.

"I've brought the troop. I heard his Majesty is back." Yozak grinned with enthusiasm. He was prepared for anything. And he'd been prepared for this for a long time, several days in fact.

"Thank you, Yozak. Shall we head out?" Conrad intervened, observing the troop that had assembled in front of the three of them. Anyone who saw them could admit that most of them were very good looking; bright eyes, skin tight blue suits and beautifully coloured hair. There were several cavalry men behind them, four of which were towing two carriages with their horses, two to a carriage.

"Yes. We'll head north. That's where he'll be." Conrad gave Gwendal a puzzled look. How did he know where Yuuri was going to arrive. Ulrike hadn't actually said any details, and even if she had, they may not have helped. All she'd said was that Gwendal would know it well... Oh, then that meant...

"North it is!" Yozak yelled happily above the chatter. He handed Conrad and Gwendal the reins from horses that the troops had brought with them. They hopped on them as fast as they could and yanked the rains.

_'Yuuri...'_

* * *

"Fwuuahh!" Yuuri exhaled loudly. He hadn't travelled quite like _that_ before. He'd taken the occasional few things with him in the past, but nothing he wasn't certain he could carry. Taking two people and two caskets... That was seemingly harder. Wolfram felt it too. It was exhausting. Just how much maryoku did they need to use to get here?

The sky was dark. It had been raining, but the rain had taken a small stop in it's downpour. Yuuri and Wolfram lay on the soft, damp grass. Clouds were flying above them at slow speeds, mesmerizing their tired states. It wouldn't be hard for them to forget what they had returned for and fall asleep right there. Miko wasn't far off. She'd landed a few feet away from them and had taken to lying on the floor. She'd fallen asleep too. Although she hadn't used any power, she could feel the effects. The two caskets lay between them. Wolfram and Yuuri on their right and Miko their left. Behind them stood a tall sakura tree. The rain hadn't dampened the colours at all, the blossoms were the happiest colour around. Yuuri sat up slowly, holding his head. He felt dizzy and awkward. Wolfram, by the way he'd curled up on his side in the damp grass, appeared to be feeling the same.

"...Yuuri...?" A whisper came from Wolfram. He sounded drained. It was new to hear him like that. Yuuri could always remember Wolfram having the most energy of everyone, Conrad included. He'd never seen him this worn out.

"Wolf." Yuuri smiled. There was a small breeze, but it felt refreshing more than anything else. It was nice being back in Shin Makoku. By the way things looked, the weather and the scene change, he could tell the trip had gone well. They'd ended up in the exact spot they were expecting. Things were starting to get better. Yuuri could see the sun making it's way through the blockade of clouds. Yeah, maybe things were clearing up.

" 'M tired." Wolfram's small voice came again with barely any energy left in it. Wolfram was done for. He could feel the sleep he desperately wanted overwhelming every feeling he had right now. He had no opposition and closed his eyes, allowing the sleep to take over him. Yuuri just smiled.

"...Thanks, Wolf." Yuuri replied before settling back down onto the grass closer to Wolfram. "Thanks for helping me through this. Right now, I need you more than ever, don't I? I've always been a wimp. But since when did that matter? You were always the brat." He smiled, closing his eyes against the chilly, spring air. It was so relaxing that he ended up falling asleep himself. It wasn't long before the morning sun broke through the clouds and revealed itself to the sleeping trio.

Yes, things were definitely starting to clear up.

* * *

"We'd better get you dried off, you troublesome child." Murata rubbed the towel deeper into Mayumi's hair. She hadn't meant to run off in the rain, but the puddle was more than tempting. If she wanted to jump in it, why couldn't she? Wasn't that what children did? Went outside to play and came in with more dirt on them than the eye could see? Apparently not. And now she was wet, muddy and messy. "I'm supposed to be taking care of you, you're making me look bad." Mayumi socked him in the head playfully.

"Kenny knows better than to sulk. Bad Kenny." She grinned at him. He pulled loose strands of hair into the left piggy tail and pulled the blue band around it, letting it snap back gently and then did the same for the right.

"I know, I know. The shrine maidens don't have many clothes for young girls May, so please try to keep yourself clean, okay?" Mayumi crossed her arms in defence. She was a child, and she would do what she wanted. Her parents never told her off for getting muddy, they'd just flash a clean outfit in front of her, she'd put it on and end of story. Murata was different. Its as if he actually...cared.

She frowned towards the floor. No use going soft on him, that's what he wanted. So instead, she decided to ignore him. She'd done it before, and she'd do it now. It made no difference. Murata pulled her piggy tails tighter, stopping them from falling out, and stepped back to admire his work.

"Whoa, I'd never have guessed doing the maidens' hair would pay off, but I think I did a pretty good job." Mayumi 'hmpfed' in return. She could do her own hair...Not well, but she could do it. But she also enjoyed it when Murata played around with it, making it into tons of small tiny buns or seeing how many pony tails he could put in at one time. Then, they'd reverse it, and she'd do his. It wouldn't work as well, but the fun was all that mattered.

"**Kenichi** **Murata, hold it right there!**" Murata froze. No one else in Shin Makoku knew his real name other than Shibuya or the Great One...and that voice definitely didn't sound like Shibuya's! And when the Great One was angry...!

"Quick May, we have to run! The Great One's angry, and I don't know what I did!" Murata grabbed Mayumi's hand and she ran alongside him. They could hear fast footsteps behind them and they were getting closer quickly. Murata turned the corner, adamant in finding a place to hide. If they could do that, then he'd run straight past them. And if he ran straight past them then they'd be off the hook...for a while. Until he did find them. Then they'd probably be in more trouble, but they'd deal with the when the time came.

Walls, walls, walls and more walls. Who knew it'd be hard to hide in a tomb? It's what they always did in movies, so why couldn't some convenient crevice appear conveniently and let them hide? That was a daft thought. Besides, Murata knew the best place to hide. So obvious that even the Great One himself wouldn't be able to find them. That is unless, of course, he cheated. And that's something Murata knew he'd do no doubt. Murata tried to concentrate. Right now, they were in the west wing, if they ran towards the centre, they'd find the main hall in no time.

"This way, May." Murata pulled her gently in another direction, taking them down another interlocking corridor. This place was bigger than he remembered, or it could have been that he was smaller... They kept running until they came out into a lighter area. They could see a door leading to a garden and could hear running water to their right. On their left was another door. Murata was sure he knew where they were now. "If we go through the door to the garden, we can reach the hall and hide in there. Lets go!" Mayumi stopped, instead she ran to the other door.

"Hey, Ken. What's through here?" She asked curiously, not that it mattered, but it was time to have a little fun.

"May, c'mon. He's after us, you have no idea what he's like when he's angry."

"No, he's after you. I didn't do anything wrong." She folded her arms again dramatically, along with sticking her nose up and turning away. It reminded him of someone...but he couldn't place who. Oh well, there was no need to ponder who it was because right now, he was running. Trying to anyway. She was right though, he hadn't yelled her name.

"You're right, I'll hide alone then. Don't tell him where I'm hiding." With a smile Murata turned away from her and started rushing over to the garden's entrance.

"No, wait! Kenny! Don't leave me in big, scary places alone! Be responsible!" She ran after him. Murata grinned. That was the plan. "Kenny! Wait!"

"If you want to come, you'd better keep up" He kept going, but it wasn't long before she did catch up. They were running across the garden and even with their little break there was no sign of the Great One. And Murata found that suspicious. "Shhs, May. I can't see, or sense him anywhere. And if I know the Great One, he always has some nifty tricks up his sleeves." Mayumi nodded excitedly. She could tell where this was headed. It was another adventure.

They ran through the garden and hadn't been spotted by anyone but a few of the maidens. Murata had had to turn down all of their untimely requests though, because he was on a mission. Escape the Great One. And he had a side kick, Mayumi. Partners in crime, the two of them. Their run slowed to a speed walk as they reached the place they'd been looking for.

"Ulrike!" Murata called out. The priestess was hanging around the remaining three boxes. "Let us hide in one of the boxes, which do you recommend?" At first, Ulrike was dumbfounded. Hide in a box? That was a tad obvious, was it not? But after a short while, she guessed it was because the Great One would never look there. Not a second sooner, Murata lifted the lid of 'Hellfire in Froze Land' and jumped in, alongside Mayumi.

"Don't. Tell him. Anything." Murata said quietly before dropping the lid.

* * *

The light of the sun was making him wince as he tried to force his eyes open. He could feel strains and cramps in his side, and his hair was all over the place. It was unusually bright outside and the sky was cloudless. There were tree's surrounding the bottom of the hill they'd arrived at and another standing proudly at the top. He stole a few looks around him. There were two caskets, Yuuri, Miko and a large empty hill. How long had he been asleep? Ah well, at least they'd arrived safely. He looked at Yuuri. He couldn't tell how long he'd been asleep, but he could tell they'd been here a while. The grass below him was flat and it appeared as though he'd tossed in his sleep as there were patches flattened around that one too. He could hear bird song, but he wasn't sure which way the birds were. The only other sound was the distant whisper of the trees around 50 metres away from them. There was no one else around as far as he could see, but he knew they were on their way here. If they hadn't been told they'd returned, they'd surely have felt Yuuri's presence by now. If so, then it wouldn't take them long to get here. Last time they came, it took them just over an hour. And this was their king, so who knew how fast they'd be travelling?

With another look at Yuuri, Wolfram noticed something. Tears? Was Yuuri crying? So he was awake? No, he would've noticed Wolfram by now. Wolfram edged closer to him, on his hands and knees. Yuuri was definitely crying. He could hear small breaths and sniffs coming from his sleeping form.

"Yuuri?..." Wolfram called out to him in a whisper, trying to wake him up. It didn't work. Instead he started to shake him lightly. "Yuuri?" It didn't work either. Wolfram turned away slightly and sat back down, huffing as he hit the floor. He'd always been told he was the heavy sleeper. Yuuri started to move. At first, he was lying on his side facing Wolfram, but he'd rolled over to face away from him. Now, he tossed back over with a distressed look on his face to top it all of. Wolfram frowned. Yuuri was never this hard to wake unless...Unless he was having a nightmare! That was it! Of course! The last time he'd tried to wake Yuuri up in Shin Makoku it'd been easy, but the time before that not so much. He could remember now that Yuuri told him it was 'just a nightmare' and that he was fine. So, if he was having one now...

Wolfram hopped onto his feet and sped over to Yuuri's side. Yuuri was looking more and more uncomfortable by the second. Wolfram took hold of one of his arms, and wrapped it around his neck. He then pulled Yuuri up onto his lap and rocked him gently. If he was harder to wake up, then he simply wouldn't wake up if Wolfram did this. He'd never know either, because who was here to witness it happening? Miko was asleep, so even if she was looking at them, she wouldn't _see_ them.

"...Jeez, only a wimp like you would be scared of what was happening in your dreams. If it's that bad, then wake up... I'm not going to say I didn't try to wake you up. Hn, I thought this would work..." Wolfram said in a hushed tone whilst watching Yuuri's expression change. "You know, if you want them to go away, make them go away. It's your dream, so you're the one controlling it." Wolfram looked at Yuuri as if he wasn't listening. Yuuri may have been asleep, but Wolfram was pretty sure he could hear him. Yuuri's facial expression became more peaceful, but his cheeks were still damp. Did Yuuri have any idea he was crying? Wolfram didn't know, but it was better if he didn't. He pulled his sleeve over his thumb and gently wiped the stains away.

From a few feet away, Miko sat up and checked her surroundings. '_So this is Shin Makoku?...It's beautiful...' _She thought to herself. It was breath-taking. The scenery on Earth was a whole step down. This was a whole knew level. From behind the surrounding trees, she could see a town. It couldn't be more than a village because there were only a few houses, but she could clearly see that they looked nothing like the ones on Earth. From what she could see they were built from wood and stones, not bricks or metal. The thing that stood out to her most though, was something that she couldn't see. Her son was the king of this land. He was the ruler. He owned it.

It was hard to believe. And even in her mind, she wasn't going to believe it until she could see it.

* * *

Rodriguez was back in Japan. The flight seemed to take days and the drive to the hospital made those 'days' feel like years. The night sky was above him as he drove into the hospital car park, parking as close to the doors as he could get. The headlights flickered off and the sound of the engine died. The door opened and he stepped out. He shivered as the early spring weather reached his back and curled into himself slightly to keep warm. He made his way over to the doors hastily, carefully trying not to slip on the coat of ice the moon had left.

Inside the hospital was warm, as he'd expected. The lights were were dim in a room that a nurse had been instructed to take him to. He was told to wait and that his 'clients' as she had called them, would be arriving soon. He hated that word. _Clients._ They weren't his clients. Although the nurse wouldn't have known that. Only a select few of the doctors and nurses knew about the demons on Earth. And that was only the higher-ups._ Clients. _That still pissed him off. He'd like to think of them as his equals, even more so because of what they were going to do. What they were going to sacrifice. The soul, the real soul, of their baby was never going to come. The soul of their baby was his, so to speak. He had control over what happened to that soul. How he'd gained that control? He couldn't remember. What gave him the right? That was a mystery to him as well. He knew he had a good job, a reasonable pay and good contacts in high places. He just didn't want to think he was in such high a place.

Rodriguez's eyes snapped up the moment the door was opened. He'd been sat in a room with a desk and three chairs. One for him, two for his guests. He understood that this could take a bad turn, or drive the wrong route, but that didn't matter. What did was the results that he wanted. Satisfied parents and Bob's successor. A couple was ushered into the room and he watched the door as it was closed behind them

"Welcome, Hiroyuki Murata, Kimiko Murata. I believe we've met before." Rodriguez smiled. This wasn't going to be as hard as he'd first though.

* * *

Wolfram cold hear them getting closer and closer. Horses. Hooves. His guess was that they'd reach them in about 10 minutes if not less. He could see them now, and he was pretty sure they could see him, since they were heading straight for him.

Yuuri was lying beside Wolfram. He was awake, but he hadn't moved. He was just staring up into the clouds. Wolfram could tell by the look in his eyes that he was day dreaming, drifting off to that place in his head he knew oh so well. He hadn't said anything since he'd woken up, so Wolfram had no idea what the nightmare was. Yuuri had rolled off Wolfram's lap before he'd woken up, and Wolfram left him there because it had looked like Yuuri was okay. They'd be back at the castle soon anyway, if Yuuri was tired, he could just go back to sleep. Gwendal had been doing his job, which meant there wouldn't be anything to do until more work came in. Gwendal always finished what he started, even when he was covering for someone else. Half-assed jobs were unfinished and unprofessional.

Wolfram stared off into the distance, where queues of horses could be seen flowing out of the trees. There were men, young men, in blue suits riding on their backs. And Wolfram could recognise those colours a mile away. His own uniform. Although he'd left half of it on Earth, his jacket was bound to still be behind the temple where Murata had made him desert it, if it wasn't he was going to have to sit through a loud discussion with Gwendal about what had happened to it and how they didn't want to be wasting money on things they should have kept safe. It wasn't like it was his only jacket, it was just that he didn't have that many and the country had better things to spend money on.

"Wol-chan, we made it to Shin Makoku." The voice almost made him jump. Miko was awake, and now she'd made herself known. How long had she been there? Oh well, better to answer her than to not.

"Mmm, we did. We'll be heading back to the castle soon. The soldiers are on their way." Wolfram smiled. "I'm glad we made it. That makes things easier on Yuuri. I'm sorry for the loss. Very sorry... Am I allowed to call you Mama?" Miko looked surprised for a second, but it didn't take long for the surprise to soften into a smile.

"Of course, Wol-chan. Didn't I say that a few weeks ago? And thank you, but people die. We all will one day. Yuuri will recover, he just needs a little time." Miko sat down on the damp grass next to him. "Anyway, if you're with him, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Eh? Me?" 'Why me?'

"Yes. Wolfram, you've been with him the whole time. He's comfortable around you. He's not afraid to tell you how he feels, I've seen you two when you're together."

"...I doubt that. Yuuri's always talking about how much he'd love to be with a girl...on Earth." Wolfram slumped down a bit and pulled his legs towards his chest. He rested his head on his knees and continued. "Did you ever feel like trying too hard just wasn't enough?"

"Wolf. You're too young to worry about things yet. You're engaged, that's further than anyone else has gotten. I support you with all my being." Miko said, placing a hand over her heart. Wolfram couldn't help but gaze at her everlasting strength. She didn't look anything like the woman that had broken down two nights ago after putting her son to bed. She looked like someone else entirely.

"Tch, I'm 84" Miko couldn't hide that slight 'eep' that escaped her. 84? Well...that_ was_ a bit old, but he's a demon, so that didn't count.

"That's not the right way to look at it. You're a demon, Wol-chan. If you had been living on Earth, you and Yuuri would only be a couple of months apart." She smiled gleefully, knowing all to well that the fan girl inside her wouldn't let Wolfram try to separate him and Yuuri in his head. That wasn't fair on Yuuri, he had a say in the engagement too. Although, the way Wolfram talked about it did make the whole thing seem like a joke.

"How can you tell?" Wolfram was looking more and more down, as if Miko was slowly stealing the happiness right from him and sucking it into her own atmosphere. How she did it? He would love to know her secret.

"Look at you! All men over 84 are old and wrinkly. There's no way you're actually that old, demons probably just use their age to show off. Big numbers do look better on job applications..." Miko looked like she was about to join Yuuri in the own-world-tour; she was travelling deeper and deeper into the back of her head unconsciously, until a sound she heard knocked her off track. It distracted Wolfram too. They both turned their attention to the obstruction.

The sound came from right next to them. Where they here already? Had it already been that long? Wolfram was staring right into the eyes of an all too familiar stallion. It was white, with a beautiful, long flowing, blonde mane. It wasn't his horse, he could tell, but having not seen his for the time he'd spent away, it was an easy mistake. The person on the horse was a lot more familiar though.

"Who's this charming and inspiringly alluring woman?" With a wink, Yozak hoped off of the horse. "It's good to see you again, Lord Bielefeld." Wolfram nodded to him, but he was looking past him to the people who he knew would be coming next. In fact, the very person he was looking for was straight in his line of view. Conrad Weller. He'd stopped. Not only had he seen Yuuri, but he'd noticed the 'boxes' too. By the dull tone his eyes had now, he'd figured something out.

It was time for Wolfram to do a little explaining. All he knew to say so far was that 'It's a long story.' He hadn't actually prepared any speeches or anything, he just knew that Yuuri wouldn't be prepared to tell them what he go on back on Earth. This was his time to lighten the load on Yuuri's shoulders.

So when Conrad looked to him for the story, he stood himself up and prepared for the bumpy ride. As he grew closer to his brother, he debated what to say. But his mind went completely blank when he saw the lost look of grief and confusion on Conrad's face. He understood enough. There was nothing Wolfram needed to say. Not until they reached the castle anyway.

As the carriage arrived, Conrad dismounted and headed towards Yuuri, who Wolfram hadn't noticed, had fallen back to sleep. That was only natural considering he's used his powers on Earth and that he had taken most of the hit for it. He'd leant down, picked him up as if he weighed nothing more than a piece of paper and taken him over to the carriage, laying him down tenderly, watching him with every move he made. Wolfram had to hand it to Conrad. Even if he didn't know the full story, he was taking it better than he'd thought he would. Wolfram didn't know Yuuri's father well, and his first impression upon meeting Shouri hadn't been the best, but Wolfram knew that when Conrad was on Earth he had developed a good relationship with his father. He'd known them better than anyone else in Shin Makoku other than Yuuri.

In other words, he wasn't looking forward to explaining the story.

* * *

**A/N **

**Wow, so this would have been out a lot sooner, but I've been revising for the 9 or 10 exams I have coming up. The science on I had didn't go to badly, but the history one I completely forgot about and didn't revise for... My bad.**

**Anyhoo. Only a few more chapters, about two or three, and this story will be finished, over, kaput. Yeah, I'm actually lookng forwards to developing the Yuuram bit - I mean, who wouldn't be? - because I already have what's going to happened planned in my head.**

* * *

**Review Replies**

_Tiger Eyes_

I should be too, but this is much more fun. Damn school and their damn rules- I mean, yay...exams. I'm all for enthusiasm. Thanks for reading it...and as for wanting more, well, your wish will be granted over time. :D

_Miyuki Meiru_

It's like Murata, huh? I wonder if the baby will will remember it's past life. ;)

_WezL_

That's how I feel too. And thank you, much appreciated.

_Rinoakim_

So do I, I mean if she wants to live on Earth, I understand. But he's your SON, Miko. YOUR SON. And thank you for reading. :D

* * *

_Kyou Kara Maou soundtrack, I am in love with you. Marry me metaphorically?_


	14. Breaking the News

**Chapter 13 – Breaking the News.**

* * *

"Ulrike, might I say you are looking absolutely astonishing today. Did you do something with your hair?"

"..Y-Your majesty?" Ulrike shot the Great One an uneasy look. She was grateful for the compliment, but she had no idea where it'd come from.

"Mmm, yes. I'd say the same to my Sage, if only I could _find him_." The Great One's voice grew darker and the priestess couldn't hep but take a small step back. The Great One noticed, but didn't say anything. Instead he turned away from her and sat himself upon one of the boxes, Hell Fire in Frozen land and exhaled loudly. "_Yes._ If only I knew where that brat was hiding." He crossed one leg over the other and leaned back casually. "Oh, but of course if you knew where he was, you'd tell me, right? You'd never deceive me like _he_ would."

"Of course not, Your Majesty." Ulrike shrunk into herself, keeping her distance. She wasn't lying, she was just avoiding the questions. If she didn't answer, he couldn't catch her out.

The Great One stared up to the ceiling. He started to kick his legs back and forth, humming to himself as he did. He was in a great mood so he was looking for something to take away the bored feeling he'd had lingering inside him for the past few hours. The temple was no fun when there was no one around to play with. He was overjoyed when he'd heard Murata was back. Murata wouldn't appreciate the Great One's company like he used to. He'd...Not grown up, but he'd definitely changed over the 4000 years they'd know each other.

* * *

"Wolfram, tells us what's going on." The ride back to the castle was short and it gave Wolfram little time to improvise. He knew this moment was coming but every time he'd tried to think about it he'd get distracted. Yuuri had been put to bed the moment they reached the castle and Wolfram had come up with a few things during that time, but even for him breaking the news wasn't the easiest thing.

"..." Wolfram had a blank expression on his face. He was thinking; thinking of a way to put it that wouldn't sound offensive or rude. He didn't want to upset Yuuri even more by reminding him, but he didn't want to make it look like he knew the whole story and tell them everything. And on top of all that, Wolfram didn't want to say anything Yuuri wouldn't want them to know.

"Well?" Gwendal interrupted. He could understand why they were all getting impatient. They had other things to worry about.

"It's not something I know how to tell you easily!" Wolfram shouted in response. " Just...give me a moment." He turned away from them and walked around the desk towards the window. "Yuuri's been through a lot these past few years. Becoming the demon king without even knowing what one was, being dragged away from his family, all the experiences he's had here. I don't know why such horrible things happen to the better people in life." Wolfram whispered, more to himself than the others. He wanted them to hear, he just didn't want them to get the wrong idea.

Wolfram turned to face them again. Gwendal, Conrad, Yozak, Günter and Lady Celi stood and seated around Gwendal's office. He couldn't help but feel intimidated by they way they were all looking at him as if he was wasting their time other than his mother. He took a quiet but deep breath in.

"I'm not sure how to say this, but I know for Yuuri's sake that it is better inform you than him." Wolfram looked at each one of them straight in the eyes before continuing. "When myself and the Great Sage were on Earth, we were there for longer than we both thought we'd be. There is a reason for this and I know not one of you is going to like it. You will understand my hesitance to tell you when I say that the reason for this is...Yuuri- Our king lost two of his family members to an accident on Earth." Wolfram looked down. He didn't want to see the look on their faces. He didn't want to hear what they were going to say. "His brother, Lord Shouri and his father, Lord Shoma are no longer with us."

…

No one made a sound. No gasps, no words, no nothing. Wolfram could see the words they wanted to say in their eyes. He could see the way they were struggling to accept the truth.

…

Wolfram jumped at the sound of a chair scratching against the floor. He looked up to find himself being embraced by his mother. He could feel the warm tears sliding down his cheeks and he could hear his breaths becoming shorter... When had he started to cry? He didn't remember but he could feel a dull ache coming on in the back of his head.

"...Wolf." Lady Celi whispered along with small strokes on his back to calm him down.

"...I-...I'm sorry..." Wolfram spoke quietly between breaths.

"You don' have to apologise." Celi replied softly. She hugged him closer until she felt him start to struggle against her embrace.

"..I'm sorry...I have to go."

"Of course you do, sweetie." She smiled at him, but her sorrow showed. She let him go and watched as he hurriedly strode out of the room.

* * *

He made his way down the corridors until he reached a large pair of doors lading into his shared bedroom. Yuuri was in there, asleep. _'Yuuri, I'm sorry I can't help you more than I have.' _Wolfram thought to himself. He tried to compose himself more before quietly slipping into the room unheard, changing and joining his fiancé in the bed.

All he wanted to do right now was get away from everyone. He didn't care about what they thought, even if they thought he was weak or desperate. He wanted to make sure Yuuri was okay and the only way he could think of doing that was staying by his side. If that meant devoting his whole life to Yuuri, so be it. He'd been a soldier all his life, and what for? He hadn't gained anything. Maybe a rank or two, but nothing nobody else couldn't reach with a little hard work. Now he had Yuuri; a person who he wouldn't find another of; the type of person you only meet once. Was it wrong to want to protect the one thing you love more than everything else in the world?

Conrad had trained with the sword for most of his life to protect Yuuri, Gwendal was strong enough to protect anyone and Günter had been Conrad's teacher. But Wolfram, every time he'd helped Yuuri it'd either been by chance or luck. He'd never done anything that truly showed his feelings. No one understood him. And so what? They didn't need to understand him for him to understand himself. He couldn't relate to how Yuuri was feeling completely, but he had lost a relative once in the past so what he _could_ do was help Yuuri through the healing process like no one had done for him. No one had told him everything was going to be all right, no one had told him that crying wasn't going to help. At least he would be there to reassure Yuuri when he needed it most.

He shifted closer to Yuuri. He could feel the breaths on his neck as he watched Yuuri's sleeping form. Warmth was practically radiating and Wolfram bit back a chuckle, remembering the way Yuuri was always mysteriously colder than he was and how he had complained about it. Yuuri looked so vulnerable when he slept. His mouth slightly open and his pyjamas slipping down his neck. For someone so...young to be in a situation that steals away the ones close to you. Wolfram he been through it, but he deemed himself to young at the time to have actually understood what had happened. He'd had to learn about his father throughout the years. They'd never been as close as Yuuri had with his.

Wolfram inhaled deeply. It wouldn't be long now until Gwendal had finished planning a royal burial service. And Wolfram knew better than anyone that Yuuri would rather have no part in planning it. He hated losing people. Especially when losing them was something that could have been avoided. Wolfram wanted no part in it either. He wanted to get out of that room as quickly as possible. He'd be at Yuuri's side throughout everything, so everything he wanted was what Yuuri wanted. If Yuuri wanted no part, neither did he. His part was wherever Yuuri's was.

Wolfram closed his eyes slowly. '_What would happen to Miko and Yuuri now?'..._

* * *

"You two are aware of why you're here?" Rodriguez started.

"Yes, we're here about another demon." Hiroyuki voiced. Rodriguez nodded in response and turned to a pile of paperwork he had with him. There was information on demon babies and the particular soul he had with him. He hadn't taken it out yet and he wasn't going to until they agreed. There was nothing wrong with the soul, but he was aware of how they treated Murata. Several times Murata had told him stories of how they'd try to get rid of him and how they'd tried to keep him and his sister separated.

"First, I want to ask you a few questions. Nothing different to last time, of course. You have to answer them all honestly." He turned to Kimiko. "All right?" He wasn't sure telling them to answer honestly was going to work because he knew what humans were like. He'd questioned tons in the past. The signs on their faces showed their lies. Their body language too. Kimiko and Hiroyuki just had a habit of hiding things better than other people and both them and Rodriguez knew it. They'd been doing it for years. "You understand the chances of them being able to go to Shin Makoku too, right? Ah, that won't be much of a problem supposing Murata will be there too...Unless when he's older, he gets a job on Earth and stops travelling there... Oh, but I don't think Yuuri Shibuya would be too comfortable with that..." Rodriguez seemed to to go into a world of his until a pair of fingers clicked before his face.

"Sorry, you were getting off track." Hiroyuki said with a polite tone. He didn't sound at all bothered by it, so Rodriguez simply apologized and shrugged it off. Hiroyuki returned to his chair and Rodriguez continued.

"Well, about this soul. We've found no problems with it. The only slight problem is this soul came from someone who didn't live a long way from you did. This soul is quite similar to your first son Ken so be prepared for the baby to remember it's previous life. It may also look like it's previous owner which might not concern you but as I've said, his family don't live at all far from where you do."

"We understand that." Kimiko started, sounding quite uncertain. "But...You know how badly we deal with Ken. He's... Hard to put up with. There's too much to deal with when your child isn't certain of who or what he is until he's had confirmation from someone who knows. Ken was... He was crazy – completely mental – the first few years of his life." She shifted in her chair and looked very uncomfortable.

"I see." Rodriguez rubbed his stubble with his hand, thinking of what he could say. It was all fine and good that Murata's parents could admit he was hard to deal with, but why did they apply for the job if they were that uncertain. Surely someone with that little interest wouldn't want to have the child. The only way he could have the soul transferred into the baby was with the mother was completely content with it. It involved her spirit as much as it did the baby's; the baby was going to grow inside her for months! "So, you're not up for this after all?" Kimiko's head shot upwards.

"No! That's not it... We'd love to have another demon in the family; we feel that Ken would feel less lonely that way. If Ken had someone like that, maybe he would be happier. He hates being home, we can see it in his eyes. Whenever he goes to that alternate universe, other than one time, we couldn't even tell he'd left. He hadn't told us anything. All we knew was that he'd be travelling somewhere in the later stages of his life that he was familiar with and we wouldn't have to worry. We _do _worry; we're his _parents_, we have every right to... But being a demon here is different to being one there. Human demons from Earth are different. They have a whole different culture over there and we can tell by the way Ken acts and avoids many humans here. He doesn't belong on Earth. He belongs with them and we want this child to be there with him." Kimiko turned to her husband with a grim look on her face. She took his hand in hers and carried on. "Mayumi isn't like Ken. She doesn't have the memories of someone else. She didn't inherit a soul from someone else. She can't be a demon. She's normal and Ken doesn't seem to mind. He gets along with her well and is exceptional at taking care of her... But what happens when he makes his decision of where he wants to stay and live? She wont have him then if he chooses that dimension. We want him to have some one like him who will be able to connect with him properly. Boy or girl, we don't care. We're willing one hundred percent to have another child to keep Ken happy. And Mayumi may possible be happier too; it wouldn't be as lonely for her..."

Rodriguez frowned._ 'to keep Ken happy?' _Keep him happy? He wasn't happy. The only place he was happy in was Shin Makoku, so Rodriguez found it hard to believe Murata would choose Earth over there. He'd done it before and it wouldn't be different now. He'd say a heartfelt good bye to his family and leave. He'd come back about once a year, but other than that, they would barely see him. There was also another problem. It had never been proven that Mayumi _wasn't _demon. In fact, they'd never properly checked her DNA or told the family then in detail. She had always been a healthy baby so there was no need for that. If she was demon though, would that make having this baby pointless?

"So...If I have this right... What you're saying is that you're having this baby for Murata's sake?" Mayumi nodded reluctantly in reply. It didn't seem convincing, but he was willing to believe it for now. "In that case, I want to ask you if you could get Mayumi a DNA test." Both the parents' eyes widened. To get a DNA test would mean that something either wasn't right or that something bad had happened.

"W-why?" Kimiko was almost too afraid to ask.

"I don't recall you ever getting her DNA tested. Do you know whether or not she is a demon? When she was born, did you have a doctor tell you whether she was human or demon?" Kimiko started to fidget in her seat. She looked uncomfortable, and her husbands expression wasn't any different.

Hiroyuki looked like he didn't know what to say, but words left his mouth, "Well, no... We just assumed... She hadn't shown any signs of power and Ken had told us he could never sense any power from her. That's right, isn't it? A human baby would have no power, and a demon of his supposed power should be able to test it." Rodriguez looked surprised. Either Mayumi was a full human... Or Murata had lied. Why would Murata lie though? There wasn't any particular reason why he would've said that. For someone with magical strength akin to his, sensing demon powers was a walk in the park. Mayumi having powers could either be potentially dangerous, or a great benefit...

"Do you know where the two are right now...?" Rodriguez asked. He knew it wasn't something he should ask; it wasn't his job to invade their private life after all.

"Of course we do!" Kimiko shot back.

"... Could you phone them for me?"

"I don't see why not." She rose from her seat and reached into her pocket, pulling out her mobile. She dialled their home number and waited for a response.

* * *

"...sage... …find him..." Murata could only make out a few of the words being said above him. He knew that the moment the Great One opened his big mouth and started talking, he'd been found. Maybe a box wasn't that best place to hide.

Mayumi didn't move. She could feel the man on top of the box move and shift. She was holding her breath, but taking small quite ones every so often. She knew they'd be found sooner or later. She'd felt the Great One coming before he'd gotten there and so had Murata, but even if they had bailed from the box and made a break for it, being caught was inevitable. Mayumi was afraid of moving. The Great One was everything she expected when she arrived, and that included him being somewhat scary. In this sort of situation, she was happy that she was as small as she was.

"..Ken.." She whispered. It was so quiet she almost sounded like she was only breathing. Murata was hard to see in the darkness. There was no light coming through the gap the lid and the box any more. The Great One must've known they were in there. She could only see Murata's outline, and still wasn't clear enough to make him out completely. "...Ken? How long will we be in here?"

"He knows we're here. It wont be long now before he yanks the lid off and I face his punishment... What's this even about? We might as well just tell him we're here." Murata shuffled inside the box. He was sitting cross-legged and changing position quietly was proving to be harder than he though. Mayumi could only stare into the black space that was Murata. She couldn't tell what he was doing or why. She flinched as a foot hit her leg. "Sorry..." Murata stopped moving and knocked on the side of the box loudly. "Oi, let us out. If you're going to keep playing around, it'd be better if I was out there to beat you at your own game! If you keep up cooped up in here any longer, I'm going to make sure you'll regret it!"

The tiny strands of light appeared again as a weight lifted off the top of the box. Murata's wasn't angry, he was just bored. Being stuck in a box wasn't what he thought he'd be doing when he returned. The lid was lifted up and the two inside the box winced as light filled their vision.

"Our little game of hide and seek is over, my Sage?" The Great One's sarcastic tone filled Murata's ears. He hated that tone. It was unnecessary and the Great One just happened to know how much it pissed him off.

"I'm not yours. What am I in trouble for this time? I don't recall you giving me something to do anyway." Murata pushed his glasses back into position as he pulled himself up and out of the box. He held out a hand or Mayumi and helped her climb over the side.

"Ah yes." The Great One turned away and started to walk towards the Priestess. "Ulrike tells me you came back alone. That wasn't true, and I was happy that it wasn't. But bringing your sister here wasn't what I wanted."

"No, I know. Bringing my sister here was my idea. You never told me what you wanted." Murata crossed his arms and glared at the Great One's back. It wasn't up to him what he did. He was allowed to bring his sister if that was what he wanted. Everyone knew who he was and if she was with him, there was no way she could be a threat. Not when he had control of her.

"I could care less about what you want right now. What_ I _want is to know what you did with my prince and king." His tone changed dramatically as his head shot back in Murata's direction. "You didn't bring them back. Where are they now? I sent you to keep an eye on them and you came back empty handed!"

"I knew where they were when I left. You never asked, so I never had to give an answer." Murata counted. He looked his opponent dead in the eye. "Would you like to know now?"

"It matters not. I know where they are right now." His tone lightened up a bit as he turned to face forwards. "They've been here for a while now. They're safe. I'm glad you're back and well." The Great One exhaled softly before making his out of the room. Ulrike and Murata watched him leave closely. He didn't mean to upset the Great One, and that wasn't what he intended to to, but he wasn't in the sort of mood to be pushed around any more. He was sick of being treated as nothing more than a guard dog or a possession.

Mayumi made a noise beside him that caught his attention. She looked up at him with eyes full of confusion.

"Don't worry. He's probably just gone to cool off. He gets like this. It's a quirk, I guess." He patted her shoulder and took her hand. "Let's go and-"

"Great Sage!" A soldier burst through the double doors to their right and, without a second thoughts, ran up to Ulrike. "My Lady, I have been sent here by his Excellency, Lord von Voltaire." Ulrike nodded in reply and waited for him to continue. "I've been told that the Great One and his Sage are to prepare this place for a royal funeral." Ulrike's eyes grew huge. _'A funeral? A __**royal**__ funeral!' _Ulrike didn't say anything. She hadn't been told anything, so she didn't know what to say.

"Ulrike, I'll handle this." Murata intervened, taking the soldiers arm and pulling him in the opposite direction. "Keep an eye on May for me, Ulrike!" He shouted before heading off in the same direction that his long-time acquaintance had moments ago, soldier in tow.

* * *

"Hey, we need to talk." Murata said casually as the Great One appeared in his vision. The soldier was still following him and was blatantly nervous; he was huddled up behind him trying to make himself as small and as unnoticeable as possible. "Tell him." Murata pushed the soldier at him and leant against the wall. They were in Murata's study and the room felt tenser than usual. Murata never liked to be alone with people, Shibuya being the only person he'd come to be comfortable around. He'd learnt not to trust over the years and that had made him close himself off from the rest of the world. He had friends, sure, everyone does, but he didn't get involved with them and he'd never tell them anything about himself. He'd always found it weird that he'd opened up to Shibuya before the fact that he was the real Demon King was confirmed.

"W-well, I was sent by Lord von Voltaire. He wants me to inform you that w-we are to prepare t-the temple for a royal funeral." The soldier stepped back under the Great One's intimidating aura.

"I see. Well then, it shall be done." The Great One smiled and stepped towards the soldier when he noticed the fear evident in his eyes. "And when is this for, my child?"

"T-tomorrow, your Majesty." The soldier looked utterly terrified; he looked like he was ready to run away at full throttle.

"Mm, very well then. Anything else?"

"No, sir."

"Wonderful, you are dismissed." The soldier bolted out of the room the second he said that. The Great One just laughed.

"You didn't have to be so harsh, you know the soldiers are scared of you because of your power." Murata spoke up.

"My powers? They have no idea about what powers I have now. I'm much less powerful than I used to be." He moved closer to Murata who neither approved or disapproved of his actions. "You're much more powerful than I am, no? They aren't scared of you."

"I have the body of a child. I'm not older than sixteen and that's how I look to them even if they do know who I am. I know I'm over four thousand, and so do you, but you still look the same. They're scared because you have that expression."

"What expression?..." Murata flicked him between the eyes.

"That's the one." Murata gave him a cheeky smile. "The one that shows dominance; the one that shows that you are the one in control. I don't look like that, unless I need to... But that's different."

"Is it? Anyway. Who is this royal funeral for?" The light spark in the Great One's eyes lost the spark they'd had earlier. It looked like he knew and just needed his suspicions confirmed.

"...Yuuri's father and brother." The Great One didn't say anything for a moment. He was either debating what to say, or trying to think of a way of saying something without being disrespectful. "They died on Earth, in a car accident. You knew, didn't you?" Murata continued. He lowered his voice to a gentle volume. The Great One would definitely be affected by their deaths to some extent. He had a soft spot for Yuuri. Yuuri was the most powerful and caring king he'd chosen – and he was fun to push around. The Great One had been saved from himself by Yuuri; he owed him his life.

"...No. Not all of it. I knew something had happened. But that was through a loophole. I don't actually know what happens on Earth, but I can sense trouble from miles away. I've never needed to travel to and from Earth, but you know full well that I can. I get bored here, so there are other places I like to go. I went to Earth. You also know that I have the ability to sense powerful maryoku and match it with it's owner as long as I'm somewhat familiar with them." Murata, still paying attention, pulled a chair over from his desk and sat down, purposely facing the room's other occupant. The Great One watched him as he did and then carried on speaking. "As long as I know a few things about the owner of the maryoku, I can identify them. Yuuri Shibuya was made by cells from his mother and father, and I am familiar with his DNA. That also makes me familiar with parts of his mother and fathers. You can tell where I'm going from here."

"I know all this all ready, there's no need to tell me again. However, what are we going to do about Shibuya?" Murata crossed one leg over the other impatiently as the Great One paced to and fro before him.

"This is a funeral for his brother and father and – although I'm not entirely sure of how they go about funerals on Earth – I believe we should have one from their own culture." Murata rested his elbow on his thigh and his head on his hand.

"I see where you're coming from with that. I suppose we could. That would be best for Shibuya too, he doesn't know anything about funerals from Shin Makoku. Oh well, if that's the case, I'll get right on it."

* * *

Yuuri stirred in bed, rolling around. He didn't want to open his eyes, but he was refusing to keep them closed. The nightmare was back. He didn't want it to wake up and have it be reality, but he didn't want to see it playing over and over in his head. He stopped moving when he felt a hand spread across his forehead. His opened his eyes reluctantly.

"And I thought I was a rough sleeper... Hm, maybe we brought you home too soon.." Wolfram was mumbling to himself whilst checking his temperature. "Oh!" He said, noticing Yuuri's open eyes. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry.. Are you feeling okay?" Yuuri sat up instead of answering. The sun was up and shining bright so it was probably some time before lunch. He ignored the question and messed with the bed covers. Wolfram was still in the bed with him, so he supposed they'd been excused from work for the day. He jumped when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Hey... I asked if you were feeling okay." Wolfram tried again.

"Mm, m' fine." Yuuri said lazily. He felt tired. The dream kept coming back and it kept him from having a proper sleep.

"You don't look fine. Have you been sleeping well? You were rolling around more than I do last night, there has to be a reason. Are you willing to tell me?" Wolfram's smile was still there, but Yuuri didn't know how to explain it.

"Well it's-" There was a knock at the door and Yuuri stopped.

"Come in!" Wolfram yelled. Günter entered the room with a really disheartened expression. The moment he saw Yuuri he paused. Yuuri really did look terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was greasy and all over the place, he didn't look like the type of person to be king.

"...Ah, your Majesty," Günter started after receiving a harsh glare from Wolfram. "You have been excused from your work today, as has everyone. We have arranged for your..." Günter hesitated. "...Your Majesty, we've planned a funeral for your Lord father and Lord brother that shall be happening later today after dinner." Yuuri looked shocked. His eyes went wide and his mouth hung slightly open. He looked dizzy and confused. "Of-of course, we can change the day if you find that more appropriate!" Günter hurriedly added. Yuuri shook his head quickly, dismissing the idea.

"...No. I think it would be better if we had it sooner." Yuuri said in a depressed tone. He didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to believe it and he was sure wasn't going to. But that wasn't going to help him get over it. He was starting to wonder how his mother was able to accept everything.

"Yuuri...?" Wolfram's smile had disappeared. Yuuri was going to try, he knew that, but he didn't have to be so hasty about trying to accept something that everybody knows is hard to accept. He didn't want Yuuri to rush himself into it, it could drive him crazy if he tried too hard. Just who was he trying to impress?

"Wolf?" Yuuri gave him a heartbreaking look. It was as though he could break into tears at the first thing Wolfram was going to say. But what surprised Wolfram the most was that Yuuri was smiling._ Smiling_. Through the hurt and sadness, Yuuri still had that smile that he was never going to forget. It was a sign that Yuuri was never going to change.

"Yeah, we should get prepared for lunch..." Wolfram smiled back gently, pushed the covers off of himself and headed over to their dresser.

* * *

**A/N**

**Okay, so this was way delayed. I blame my exams though. I have had 12 exams over the last three weeks and revising for them is like becoming one with Russia. You know that if you don't do it, bad things are going to happen. **

**Anyhoo~~ This story will be finished soon (Woohoo, aru) so there's only going to be like 2 or 3 more chapters. **

**My sister helped and I am forced to write this sentence. Although she did give me candy. Almighty brain fewds. **

**I know that some of the characters might be a little OOC but right now, I just want to get this up ASAP. THIS IS FOR YOU, DON'T COMPLAIN. Although criticism is accepted.**

**And lets just say that I have developed an obsession with Hetalia too, which isn't helping regarding my history revision. **

**My last exam is tomorrow, so wish me luck! :)**

**Thar shall be Yuuram in the next chaptar! Yush! Expect it. Like a boss.**

* * *

**Random Life Lesson 2 – Prussia is more awesome than you are. Consider your vital regions his. **


	15. The White of Nobility

Chapter 14 – The White of Nobility

* * *

For a lack of better words, Wolfram found lunch to be awkward. There was no one around other than himself and Yuuri. He'd taken to almost babysitting him for the day as Yuuri had been to tired to be up for doing most of his daily leisures. Wolfram had tried to get him to do something productive, but it hadn't worked and it was almost as if the day could go on forever.

The funeral was scheduled for early evening. Most of the working bodies in the castle had sacrificed their positions for the day to help out with preparations. It was a surprise to most people as news spread around the castle quickly. The gossip soon hit the nearest village outside of the castle and was sure to reach the next by the time the funeral was well and truly over. Yuuri was getting more and more looks of pity as time went on. It was making him feel even more exhausted and depressed then he already was. He would of preferred everyone to be giving him wide smiles and encouragement instead of pitying glances from the sidelines. What made life even worse was when they started to whisper words that he couldn't make out. The whispers could be heard, but the syllables made no sense together when they hit his ears; they left him confused and he wasn't sure how to interpret them.

Having Wolfram around him the whole day made Yuuri feel more secure. Wolfram had also succeeded in unintentionally making him feel less alone. There had been no sign of anyone since Lord von Christ's appearance before lunch. It made Yuuri feel slightly less important. But at the same time, they were doing too much for him. He didn't want a huge burial with thousands of people he didn't know. He just wanted to see that his family members were laid to rest in a suitable and respectful way.

Right now though, Yuuri wasn't sure what to do with himself. After eating lunch – but not eating much – Yuuri had returned to his room in effort to get a peaceful sleep before having to attend the ceremony. He had numerous hours to waste and nothing to do to to waste them on. So now he was lying in his bed with a damp cloth to his forehead. Before he'd actually gotten into bed, Wolfram had told him that he didn't want him overheating and had left for a few minutes to get a wet cloth to put over his head to try and keep the throbbing headache Yuuri kept commenting on at bay. Wolfram knew it was just because of the lack of sleep he'd been getting and had close-to forced Yuuri into bed to see if he could get an hour or two of shut eye.

It had worked so far and as Wolfram had watched him sleep, he'd even seen the hints of a smile. Wolfram couldn't bring himself to smile lately. He was starting to wonder if Yuuri's mood was rubbing off on him. He wanted Yuuri to recover and so did everyone else around him. It was great to see that Yuuri was pushing himself to recover, but Wolfram was allowed to worry about Yuuri pushing himself too hard.

A knock came from the direction of the door and a person entered after Wolfram had given permission. It was Miko. She looked... Well that was just it. Wolfram couldn't read her at all. The expression on her face was absent and she hadn't taken her eyes off of him since she'd opened the doors.

"Wolfram," She started as she walked towards him. The glittering sparkle her eyes always had was replaced by a dull iris. "I need you to do me the biggest honour anyone could give a woman in her life." Her eyes were stern and she wasn't about to let Wolfram turn down the very blunt _request._

"I'm sorry, Mrs Shibuya, but what is this honour?" Wolfram was confused for a moment as it didn't appear as if she was going to give him an answer. But when she did, Wolfram was speechless.

"I want you to marry my son." That was when Miko allowed her eyes to rest on the body of her sleeping child. Yuuri was smiling again. This sleep was turning out to be a rather sweet one.

"..But I..." Miko shook her head at his weak protests. She'd seen the signs all over his personality and body language. He liked Yuuri. He _liked _Yuuri. He had for a long time. But that never meant that Yuuri was going to feel the same. In all truth, Wolfram really doubted that even if he _tried_ to force Yuuri into marriage with him, it wouldn't work. He wouldn't be able to do that to someone he was so close to. Miko wasn't about to let this go though.

"I'm his mother Wolfram, believe me when I say there is no way Yuuri dislikes you. Yuuri has never disliked a living soul in either of the universes he's lived in. Not now and not ever. I want you to believe me when I say this too Wolfram. Yuuri has feelings for you."

"...How-"

"How can I tell?... Hmm, I've known Yuuri for years. As his mother, I've learnt a lot about the way he's treated others. He had all this responsibility to hold on to when he grew older and I wanted to help him and keep him open-minded so that he could handle all of this. I never expected it to go this far. I never prepared him for this." Her voice seemed to get softer and softer as she talked and Wolfram found himself taking it all in extremely easily. "Yuuri warms up to most people quickly. Knowing him, that was what happened when he first arrived here. But it didn't happen with you, did it?" Wolfram shook his head. Wolfram had insulted him the first chance he'd gotten. Whether it was from jealousy because he was taking his mothers throne, or from genuine disliking, Wolfram had still chosen to put him and the new Demon King on bad terms when they first met. He succeeded in just that.

"That true... The closest I've ever been to him willingly is when we first clashed swords." Wolfram let his fringe cover his eyes as he dropped his head a touch. Miko was right about Yuuri and him being on bad terms the when they'd first met. But surely everybody who's name Yuuri had learnt over his travels hadn't warmed up to him... Adalbert? No, when he'd first met Yuuri, he'd tried to make an ally out of him... Saralegui? Him too. Yuuri and him were friends from the start, and even after Saralegui had attacked him, Yuuri didn't stop insisting that they keep up their friendship. It was like a curse; first you'd meet Yuuri and when you'd learnt his name, you would immediately be put under his invincible spell of charisma and undeniable charm. Yuuri was friends with everybody.

"But don't you see Wolfram?" Miko stepped closer to him and when she was close enough, lifted his chin up to meet her eyes. "You and Yuuri fought that day, didn't you? You are the only person who has stirred Yuuri up enough to catch his attention. Once he'd learnt your name, he'd never forget it." Miko grinned widely. "He dreams about you too. When I met you Wolfram, I thought your name was going to be the hardest to remember, but after hearing Yuuri say it so much in the happiest of ways, I'll never forget it. He's serious about you, even if you don't see it. All he needs is a push. He needs that last little bit of encouragement."

"...I suppose that's true." Wolfram smiled to himself for the first time that day. Wolfram watched Miko as she once again looked back over her shoulder to her son. "I want to give him more than just support. I just have to find an acceptable way of doing so first."

"Break him." Miko said.

"...Do what?" Wolfram spat in a whisper.

"Break him down until he can't stand back without you there to help him. Be someone he can no longer live without. If you get him accustomed to living like that, he'll no longer be able to live without that life. He'll become accustomed to other things and adapt to them, cutting you out of it all. Then you'll have lost him for good and that's something neither of us would be happy with. Now that... I don't want to be the only person who is truly able to be there for him all the time."

Wolfram almost wanted to yell at her._ 'Break him.' _Who would say that about their own son? But he also understood where she was coming from. He understood completely. What she was saying was to win Yuuri whilst he still had a chance, instead of watching him fall away as his mood changed and his way of thinking started to differ. If anything, losing Yuuri altogether was the worst case scenario. As long as Yuuri was with him, he'd be happy. And the hope was that Yuuri would be happy too.

"I'm staying in Shin Makoku to make sure you do." Wolfram gasped at her words. "There's nothing left for me back on Earth. I'll make visits back certainly, but I no longer have a reason to return there. Yuuri is now my pride and joy. The apple of my eye even with the cliché." Miko let out a hushed chuckle."He's everything to me. And Wolfram, I'm very proud of you too. Thank you for being here for Yuuri all this time. I find it hard to believe that anyone here knows him better than you do. Please, for his sake, become the one he most desires." Miko patted Wolfram's shoulder lovingly and made her way over to the bed. She knelt down beside it before taking Yuuri's hand in her own.

"I love you, Yuuri. Sleep well." She stood herself upright, but not before planting a small peck on his forehead. With one last glance over at Wolfram she disappeared from the room.

_'Become the one he most desires? Well, so far that's been easier said than done.' _Wolfram though to himself. _'Break him, though? That sounds like I have attack him at his weakest point...Where he's most vulnerable. But where..?' _Wolfram mimicked Miko's actions and brought himself to the side of Yuuri's sleeping form. He took Yuuri's hand into his own and kissed the middle finger.

"I will make you mine." He whispered with the hand pressed to his lips. "I love you too, Yuuri Shibuya. Just wait and see."

* * *

Yuuri awoke to the sun spilling itself over his bed. The warm glow of the sunlight made him feel warmer. He was feeling better than earlier at least; the dull throbbing in his head was gone and now all he could feel was the pins and needles from where he'd been leaning on his hand too much whilst he slept. He shuffled around the bed, trying to get comfortable again without leaning on himself but he stopped when he felt something beside him. He looked over to his left to find Wolfram leaning on the bed. He was also asleep. Yuuri smiled softly.

"Hey, Wolf..." He whispered as he sat up. There was no point going to sleep. He had to get ready for the funeral. Yuuri ruffled his bed hair and threw the cover off of himself to one side gently. He didn't want to wake Wolfram up, so he tip toed across the room to his dresser and pull out his clothes as quietly as he could. In effort to make even less noise when he saw Wolfram start to stir, he left the room and found himself dressing in the joint bathroom.

After pulling on his clothes, he left the bathroom and joined his fiancé in their room. Wolfram hadn't seemed tired, though Yuuri wasn't going to forget that he had been following him around for the past day or two on Earth. And Wolfram was way too proud to admit to being tired in the first place. Yuuri knew any minute now there would be someone knocking on his door to fetch Wolfram and him down for the ceremony, waking Wolfram up. Seeing Wolfram sleeping, Yuuri wanted to stay and watch him. He barely had a chance to see Wolfram asleep because Wolfram was usually the one who woke him up and watching him all night before he fell asleep himself.

He made his way back over to the bed and climbed onto it as if he was a little kid. One he was upright again, he sat cross-legged and sat with eyes only for the blonde. Wolfram didn't look happy, but he didn't necessarily look anything else either. He looked... content. Yuuri could never figure out what he was thinking because whenever he tried, it would turn out to be the exact opposite. He had a habit of messing up yes, but that didn't go as deep as misinterpreting feelings. He was always able to read Conrad other than the times Conrad refused to show his true colours, and Gwendal too had always had some sort of tell tale sign.

Yuuri sighed and leant on his hand. Looking at him now, who was Wolfram really? Was he a stubborn brat who loved attention, or was he just someone deprived of enough attention that they have to be a stubborn brat to get it?

* * *

"You think this is enough?" Murata asked as he gathered up some soldiers. Yozak was behind him doing head counts and checking equipment.

"Mm...I'd say that many is fine. What will they be doing?" Yozak asked.

"Well we need someone to keep the public out of the castle grounds. If I know Shibuya well enough, he wouldn't want this to be a huge ceremony with tons of people arriving just to give him pity. He's someone who just wants to move on knowing that everything will get better."

"I hear you, your holiness. He's always had his quirks, and if his majesty wants to get this over and done with I'd say the less people the better too." Yozak huffed as he picked up one side of the box lying before him and motioned for a soldier to grab the other. They carried it away, leaving enough room at the end of the temple for the two new boxes to replace the other three. Murata just shook his head. He hadn't meant it like that, and neither did Yuuri. Yozak was just trying to wind him up.

"Everything all right, your eminence?" Conrad wandered up to Murata's side and watched as soldiers ran to and fro and all over the place. Overall, the Tomb of the Great One hadn't changed much. Rows of pews had been erected from the back doors right up to the ledge that usually held the boxes. Several flags of the Great Demon Kingdom had been hung around the walls and white plants had been brought in for decoration to make the place look brighter. It worked, but Murata doubted many of the people who were attending would notice.

"Yeah, we've sent for the nobles of several other countries but I have yet to see anyone arrive... It was rather short notice though."

"Actually, a carriage pulled up outside the castle not ten minutes ago." Conrad grinned. "I believe it was King Saralegui and his minder, Berias. They've been allocated a room in the castle until we start, they've also been told they wont be allowed to go near his majesty until everything is over."

"That's reasonable." Murata gazed up at the ceiling. He could see through the glass roof that the sky was darkening. That raised only one thought in Murata's head, _'It's almost time.' _ "Lord Weller, could you round up the soldiers for me. It looks as if all the preparations are finished. We'll have the ceremony start in about an hour. That gives Shibuya extra time to get ready and some more of the nobles should arrive during that time."

"Of course, your eminence." Conrad turned away and yelled commands at the soldiers; Murata stood and watched as they grouped up and marched away.

* * *

Over the course of the next hour, several nobles arrived. As customary in Shin Makoku, they were all dressed in white. Murata had said this was because it symbolises the path to a brighter reincarnation. It also symbolised the cleansing of the soul during the ceremony. They would not be allowed to wear any other colour because that was considered as dirtying the soul before the life that follows their death. Personally, Murata though it was a bit far-fetched. He'd been reincarnated tons of times without the cleansing ceremonies and come out just fine. He was holding on to the opinion that it was just to put the families at ease; another way of convincing them that the person who has passed on would have a fresh start. Murata went with the custom though, of course. He'd just look silly wearing another colour even if it was compulsory for someone of his status to wear only black. In the end, wearing black might offend the people who followed the customs since black was seen as the most harmful colour you could wear.

That's why, right now, Murata was surrounded by around one hundred people all dressed from head to toe in white. He knew most of them well enough to admit them into the tomb, but the person he was really waiting for hadn't appeared yet. Yuuri was nowhere to be found. He'd sent Conrad to fetch him from his room, but had heard nothing back and still didn't know of his whereabouts. Not that it mattered because in the end, Conrad had probably taken to welcoming some guests. Yuuri could arrive any minute now.

* * *

The soft knocking on the door was soothing at first, until it started to get heavier. Now someone was thumping on the door in effort to wake the two sleeping boys. Yuuri stirred in his sleep and rolled over. He'd fallen asleep after realising he'd woken up earlier than he thought. Wolfram hadn't woken up at all and Yuuri was beginning to feel sorry for him. From what he'd seen, Wolfram must have been so exhausted, he just didn't want to show it. The knocking came again, and this time Wolfram opened his eyes. They snapped open when he suddenly realised what all the fuss was about.

"Yuuri!" Wolfram shook Yuuri's shoulder gently at first, but when the teen batted his hand away he shook harder. "Yuuri, wake up! We have to get ready."

"Wha'?" Yuuri's half hearted and sleepy reply came. "For what...?"

"...You know what, c'mon. Get up." Yuuri sat up slowly. He wasn't looking forward to this, not at all. He'd rather it not be happening at all. It was nice of them to do it though, and he felt happier knowing they would make such a big spectacle of it, but in reality, he just wanted it all to be over. He wanted to go back to living that easy life where everything was back the way it was before. But as a wise man once said, keep moving forward. Yuuri planned on doing just that.

Wolfram marched quickly around the bed and up to the door. He opened it to find Conrad standing outside waiting for them after gathering that they were awake.

"Conrad." Wolfram inwardly cringed at the way Conrad looked so...Well, not happy, but... relaxed.

"Ah, Wolfram. Your outfits are being brought up to you, I've just sent a soldier to go and get them." Wolfram nodded and thanked him then turned back into the room.

"Yuuri...?" Wolfram eyed the bed and what didn't come as much of a surprise was when he saw Yuuri curled up with his legs against his chest. He strode over to him slowly, noting that Yuuri wasn't looking at him, or paying any attention to what was going on around him. When he reached him, he place a hand on his shoulder and sat down next to him on the bed. "Yuuri, I understand that you don't want to go but you have to at least appear. You know it's disrespectful not to." He didn't see it, but he felt Yuuri nod. "You'll feel better afterwards, just... Think of it as a way to get it off of your chest." Wolfram removed the hand and stood up when another knock came.

"That's our clothes. C'mon, we'd better get dressed."

Wolfram collected the clothes from the soldier and inspected them closely. Yuuri's just looked like his usual outfit, except the colour was completely white. His was the same, his usual outfit, but entirely white.

"Tch. They couldn't have come up with something more creative." Wolfram growled facetiously. He handed Yuuri his garments and began removing his clothes. Yuuri did the same, but at a much slower pace.

When they were finally done they left the room to find that Conrad must have left somewhere between them getting the clothes and dressing. Wolfram looked Yuuri up and down. His clothes suited him well. So well that Wolfram found his eyes lingering on Yuuri to long, earning him a suspicious but empty look back.

"Your collars wrong." Wolfram said and stepped towards him to correct it. He was lying, Yuuri's collar was fine. He just wanted a reason to touch him. "There we go. Much better. Lets get going." Yuuri nodded and followed behind him.

The castle seemed eerily quiet as they made their way through it. There were guards stationed at the usual posts, but no one else was appeared to be there. Wolfram could care less about whether or not they were going to attend, he was just looking out for Yuuri by trying to keep him satisfied. He wanted to make sure Yuuri was still with them and not dreaming of escaping to somewhere else in his head.

"I want to remind you, there will be a number of nobles attending this too. Don't forget, we'd all met your brother so they're familiar with him too. Try to keep a happy face on Yuuri, I know that's not what you want and that you'd prefer skipping out on this occasion, but you can't and you know that. I don't care what you do after this as long as you get through it. If not for yourself, do it for _them_." Wolfram knew he wasn't just talking about the funeral, but somehow he couldn't avoid saying it.

As they hit the main doors of the castle, Wolfram stopped. Despite Yuuri becoming temporarily anti-social, the amount of carriages they found outside was scary. It seemed there'd be more people attending then he'd first thought. The Tomb of the Great One was only a horse ride away and Wolfram was starting to feel slightly apprehensive. This was likely to go a lot worse than he'd first though.

He'd just have to wait and see.

* * *

**A/N **

**Okay, I must admit that I didn't check this over at all. From the last line down, everything was improvised so it looks really sloppy to me. D: Don't rub it in, I'm not a professional. I'm just a kid with a warped mind. (:**

**Anyhoo, I just wanted to get this up before I postpone it any more. I know I said there'd be Yuuram, but I underestimated how much I was actually writing for this chapter. The Yuuram will be in the next two chapters. **

**Yuuri's wearing white? :O**

**This is one of the shortest chapters I've written excluding the first few. Damn...**

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_Till next time... _


	16. Our Heartfelt Reveries

Accidents Happen 15 - Our Heartfelt Reveries

* * *

Mayumi didn't understand what was going on.

She was stood at the far end of the temple, nearest to the spot where the boxes had been moved from. There were people slowly flooding into the room over time and all of them were wearing white. She'd thought about asking Ken, but she'd reconsidered when she'd found that he was busy organising and helping to get everything prepared. Instead, she'd taken herself away and decided to stay out of the way until he'd finished. Then she'd question him.

From where she was stood, Murata was nowhere to be found. He'd left earlier when he guests had started to arrive. Which meant that she was left all alone. Ulrike had been busy too, and the Great One was also nowhere to be found.

Mayumi leant against the wall idly. There were several people seated and several others wandering around trying to find a seat. Despite the amount of people there were in the hall, it was terribly quiet; anyone who wanted to speak seemed to lean over and whisper their desired words into the next persons ear. No one had tried to find out what was happening, so Mayumi was even more confused. Was it something to do with Ken's friend? Was that where Ken was?

She watched as a few of the soldiers carried in what looked like a rather large bathtub. It was filled to the brim with water and she could tell they were being careful not to drop any. They placed it where the boxes usually stood, between the two new boxes, and disappeared as quickly as they'd came.

"Huh?" Mayumi almost jumped as she felt a hand fall on her shoulder. She turned around to find a tall, muscular man behind her. He was frowning, but something about his eyes made him less scary than he seemed at first.

"This is no place for a child to be." He removed his hand and knelt on the stone floor in front of her. "You should be back at the castle whilst we're preparing. It's dangerous at the moment."

"What's going on?" She asked.

"..." Gwendal wasn't about to tell her. And it was his guess that she wouldn't understand even if he did, so instead he just shook his head and took her hand. "Come on, I'll have you taken back to the castle."

"Okay..." Without hesitation, she started to walk alongside Gwendal as they headed to the outside of the temple.

* * *

As they reached the outside of the temple, there were fewer soldiers and everyone seemed to be leaving. She was in awe as one started to approach them.

"Your excellency, the preparations are finished. Should we send for his majesty?" The soldier said.

"Wolfram is probably already attending to his majesty. If anything, I wouldn't doubt that he's already on his way here." Gwendal replied and then looked down to his left. "Regardless, there is something you can take care of. Please transport this little one back to the castle. Have her eat dinner and give her one of the empty rooms."

"Sir!" The soldier saluted and gestured to Mayumi to take his hand. She took it without reluctance but turned to face Gwendal first.

"Thank you, sir!" She too saluted and started to giggle. "I'm Mayumi Murata, by the way!" She turned and almost dragged the soldier to his feet as she tried to run away. With one last look over her shoulder, she waved to Gwendal. The soldier picked her up and hoisted her onto a horse. He then jumped up onto it and took the reins.

Gwendal was left standing on his own, slightly stunned. He had never been told that the Great Sage had a younger sibling. To his knowledge, the Great Sage had always been alone other than when he found the Great One and no one knew his family, probably not even himself.

A horse came galloping towards him, distracting him from his thoughts.

"Gwendal!" He heard Wolfram shout as he heard the horse being brought to a stop and skidding it's hooves in the dried mud. "Is everything ready?" He watched as Wolfram helped Yuuri off the horse. Gwendal just nodded and continued to watch as they disappeared into the building. He made sure that everything was in order outside and then followed on after them.

* * *

Murata was there waiting for them, also dressed in white.

"Ah, Shibuya! Finally, we've been waiting for you! We better hurry up or they'll start without you." Yuuri faked a smile and then gazed around himself. He couldn't place it, but for some reason the place looked much different than he remembered it. Murata lead them to the doors and stopped outside them.

"Yuuri, I understand that you initially didn't want to do this, but there are a few pointers you're going to have to remember now that you're here. Expect the unexpected, all right? We're in Shin Makoku and it's a lot different to Earth. There are things we can do here that we can't do there, and there are things on Earth that we can't do here. _Remember that._" Yuuri just stared at him. "Ready?" Murata asked, and it wasn't until he nodded that Murata turned and started to open the doors.

"Good luck..." Wolfram whispered in his ear, sending chills down his spine. He stepped forward and didn't stop walking; not for the faces that were staring him down, not for the faces that only showed pity for him. He feared stopping and running away but kept telling himself that he wasn't allowed. This was something he had to do, for Shouri and his father.

He stopped when he saw the Great One standing right before him. He wasn't sure what to do and all he could see before him was the coffins carrying his family members. He had to hold back the tears as he felt someone walk beside him and take his hand.

"It's all right, Yuu-chan." His mother squeezed his hand gently and down at him when he turned to face her. She too was dressed head to toe in white, along with he hair being tied back with a white ribbon. "Come and sit down with me." She dragged him gently over to where she had been sitting and watched him take the empty seat next to hers. She then too sat down and the Great One started to speak.

"I assume you all know why we're here, and if not you will understand shortly. From where you're sitting you should be able to recognise this sort of set up." Yuuri was uncomfortable and he couldn't help but try to look for Murata in the crowd. He'd disappeared after Yuuri had walked in before him and he couldn't see him anywhere. Instead, his eyes rested on Wolfram, who was sat on the second row with his easily recognisable uncle Waltrana. Wolfram hadn't noticed him yet and it looked like he wasn't going to as Waltrana kept whispering to him and stealing his attention. Yuuri felt more alone now than ever, even with his mother by his side. She looked empty, hollow and as nervous as he did.

The Great One moved back and forth for a while, reciting some chants in the mazoku tongue, but Yuuri couldn't understand any of them; he only knew small bits, but not enough to know what they were about. The hall was quiet and the world around him felt as if everything had stopped. No one moved as the room began to get lighter and lighter until you couldn't even see the person next to you.

It stayed light for about five seconds before Yuuri's visibility returned to him. Now was just a case of believing what he saw. He stood up abruptly. Staring into the air before him, he rubbed his eyes, hard, before they started to well up with tears.

"...Dad... Shouri?" Yuuri voiced timidly. He stepped towards him and he couldn't tell, but he just knew that his mother had followed behind him. "You're...?" Yuuri couldn't speak. In the space that was empty before, almost hovering over the water in the circular container behind where the Great One had been standing, was his father and his brother. They were surrounded in a faint outline of golden light and a slight fog covered them.

"Yuuri...Miko..." Yuuri couldn't hold back his tears as his father spoke to him. He couldn't take his eyes off of the two males that he'd gotten to know so well over all the years of his life. He was stunned, glued to the spot. He couldn't move, mainly because he didn't want to. "We're sorry. We miss you, and we love you. **Never**. Forget that." Shoma smiled whilst Shouri, next to him, had his turn to speak.

"Yuu-chan, please don't cry. Mother, Yuuri, we do not want to cause you any more pain than we already have by leaving you," Shouri looked down at Yuuri with a loving smile and then to his mother. Both of them had tears welling up, and the silver trails rolling down Yuuri's cheeks ever so slowly started to quicken the pace as he spoke. He looked down to hide his face. He couldn't stop the tears, but he didn't want to show them his sad face. "Look at me Yuuri... I know it's hard, but if you don't look now, you'll never get another chance..." Yuuri's head snapped up and he stopped thinking.

"Why Shouri? Dad? Why did you have to go? You've left us all alone, I don't even know what I'm doing any more! I love you both so much, but there's nothing I can do to bring you back!"

"People die, Yuu-chan..."

"I know! But why did it have to be you?" Yuuri couldn't help himself; if wishing death on other people would have prevented the death of his father and brother, then maybe it was acceptable, just this once. "I want you back but that's not possible, right?" As Yuuri became more and more inconsolable, he began to choke on his words. "Dad...Big brother...Come back?..." Yuuri was all but ready for the response he received.

"We can't, Yuuri. It's not possible..." Came the voice of his father. It rang in his ears until he couldn't stand it any more.

"No!" Yuuri could no longer hold himself back and bolted from the room as quickly as he could. The hall returned to the silent state it started in before another set of footsteps were heard quickly after the first one.

"I'm sorry." Miko's voice was quiet, but everyone could hear her. "I wasn't expecting him to get this bad... He's never been one to control his temper, you know that as well as I do." Miko smiled up at her family members through her tears. "At least we get to say goodbye to you properly this way. I love you, we both do. We miss you so much."

"Thank you, mother." Shouri was now clearly crying too, with his father's hand lying on his shoulder.

"Thank you, honey. Please look after Yuuri and yourself properly now." Shoma said, rubbing his sons shoulder up and down in effort to console him.

"You too. At least you have each other." Miko smiled and wiped her eyes. "Thank you for everything. I love you both, so much."

The light faded from around their bodies and the fog started to disperse. Slowly but surely, the their silhouettes started to fade away. As they did, Miko returned to her seat after thanking the Great One too.

* * *

Yuuri slid down the wall gradually, letting his body hit the floor not caring about the pain he felt from it. He finally considered that he'd ran far enough for it to take a while for someone to find him.

He broke down on the spot. His tears wouldn't stop coming and he could feel a strong migraine growing in the back of his head, but it still wasn't enough to deter his mind from what he'd just seen. He couldn't help but kick himself over how stupid he'd been. That was the last time he was ever going to see them, the last chance he had to talk to them and yet he'd ruined it by going into a frenzy and yelling at them. It wasn't as if it was their fault and now he'd probably gone and made them feel worse about it. _It wasn't their fault_ and he_ knew_ that... But it was going to take a long time for him to accept it. Just knowing it didn't help.

He curled up and wiped the tears away with his sleeve leaving dark, wet patches staining the white fabric. He started to shake and let out loud scream to drown his anger, but it wasn't working. Nothing was working. He felt so tired and weak, he didn't want to get up, but he didn't want to fall asleep where he was now. That was unlikely though. He didn't feel like he was going to fall asleep at all, he just felt dizzy and drowsy.

It wasn't long before he started to feel cold too. He had no idea of where he was. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was running. He felt slight deja vu creeping up on him as he remembered what happened the last time he'd gotten like this.

"But there's no Wolfram this time..." Yuuri let his voice out, but it was nothing more than a whimper. "Quite suits a wimp like me..." He tried to say out loud, but again it was nothing more than a coarse whimper from his dry throat. He was crying though, so it was only normal. He let his throbbing head droop back against the wall. It was dark now, and he could see the stars in the sky above him... He hadn't even been paying enough attention to notice that he was outside until now. His tears were falling slower now, but they were still coming. He was starting to calm down somewhat, and he could think straighter.

"I can't cry forever, right dad, Shouri? I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." He lay his head back into his hands and let yet even more tears fall. "...I'm so weak..." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He started to feel drops on his neck and looked up. The stars had been covered by a sheet of black and just barely, Yuuri could see the outline of dark grey clouds moving slowly across the sky.

"Rain, huh...?" Yuuri mumbled. He didn't mind so much, his sleeves were damp already anyway.

Through the sounds of the increasing pitter patter of rain, Yuuri had deluded himself into thinking he could hear footsteps.

* * *

Wolfram picked up the pace as he ran around corner after corner. The guards said they'd seen him run off in all sorts of directions and Wolfram no longer knew who was telling the truth, so he found himself running of his own intuition. Everywhere he'd checked was clear and Wolfram couldn't remember Yuuri ever having a special place to escape to in the shrine, so where he'd actually run off to was a complete mystery.

He hadn't seen anyone else looking for Yuuri, but there was no doubt that there was a search squad looking for him somewhere, most probably lead by Conrad. Wolfram growled; there was no way in hell that Wolfram was going to let Conrad find _his _fiancé first. He pushed himself even harder but came to a sudden halt as something caught in the corner of his eye. Out of the window to his right he could see just across the back angle of the temple. It wasn't a courtyard as such, but a small garden that was barely visible in the darkness. Huddle in the corner under a sheltered area was a tiny black figure cuddled into itself as much as possible.

Wolfram darted towards the nearest exit and out of the first doorway he could find. Heading in the same direction the whole time, he ran through a few other doorways until he came to one that he was sure lead to the person he was looking for. He opened it so gently that not even a bat could hear the sounds it made and shut it after himself. He silently made his way over to the small child-like figure that was cuddle up in the corner.

"Yuuri..." He whispered but it was lost to the sound of the increasing rainfall. He knelt down before Yuuri and stroked his hair ever so gently. Yuuri didn't react and it was only natural for Wolfram to think he was asleep until he heard small whimpering sounds from him. He shuffled over to Yuuri's side and slid a hand around his back, placing it on his shoulder. He pulled Yuuri towards himself and let him rest his head on his shoulder for support. When Yuuri did without a fight, Wolfram was momentarily shocked... Was it really this easy? He didn't want to think about what Miko had said earlier on, but in the situation he was in, it was kinda hard for him not to.

_"Break him down until he can't stand back up without you there to help him. Be someone he can no longer live without."_

Wolfram knew he wasn't what had 'broken' Yuuri, but this was most likely what Miko was going for, right? But at the same time, Wolfram didn't want to take advantage of him because of the situation and especially not when Yuuri had no control of his actions.

"Wolf..?" Yuuri, from his huddled up state made a small noise which sounded, to Wolfram, a lot like the nickname Yuri had always called him.

"Mm?" Wolfram looked out into the garden. After letting his eyes adjust, he took a good look around the place. He felt Yuuri shake his head into his side, probably meaning that whatever he was going to say didn't matter as much as it had at first. Wolfram could feel Yuuri shaking and quivering by his side. "Do you want to go inside?" Once again Yuuri shook his head.

"Are you all right, Yuuri?" Wolfram looked back down at his fiancé and couldn't help but feel a nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach. "Hey...?" Yuuri didn't reply, he just snuggled up closer to Wolfram's side.

"At least stand up?" Wolfram started to get to his feet, but before he could, he felt Yuuri grab his hand and drag him back down to the floor. Instead, he landed in Yuuri's arms causing Yuuri to fall onto his back. Wolfram knew he had to stop staring, but he was drawn to how sad and broken Yuuri truly looked. His face was tear stained and pale, the bags from his lack of sleep were seeping back underneath his eyes, which were blood shot and red all over. Wolfram couldn't stop himself from gathering Yuuri up into his arms and hugging him tightly.

"Yuuri, I'm sorry... I left you here, all alone, for that long. Look at you... I'm sorry. I'm here now, so it's all right..." Wolfram almost choked on his voice as he felt Yuuri cling to his clothes. He knelt his head on Wolfram's shoulder and let the last of the tears he had in him fall before eventually peering up at Wolfram and swallowing hard.

"...Wolf." Yuuri croaked out of the back of his throat.

"Yuuri, I...-" Wolfram would've finished what he was going to say if Yuuri hadn't pressed his lips against his. The force was surprising at first, but after Wolfram had been able to get over that and register what was happening, he responded by deepening the kiss.

A rumble of thunder made them jump apart, followed by a downpour of rain.

"Yuuri...Lets go inside before the weather gets worse..." Wolfram leant down and kissed Yuuri on the forehead before taking his hand and tugging him softly towards the doors.

* * *

When no one picked up the phone, a trace of panic was evident in Kimiko's voice.

"The- There's no one picking up..." She said with a shaky voice.

"What?" Hiroyuki half yelled. He stood up, took the phone and dialled the number himself. When the dial tone sounded, he hung up and turned to Rodriguez.

"You don't know where they are, do you?" Rodriguez almost smirked, but he held it back in respect. "Are you sure they haven't run away...to _somewhere_ else?"

"You don't mean...?" Kimiko gasped. "They're in Shin Makoku? But how? We were convinced that Mayumi wasn't a demon... "

"Convinced? You didn't have any proof of it though, did you? The records show that she is the same as Murata, half demon. You've never checked the hospital records, have you? Although the hospital never checked the records over to inform you I, on the other hand, have read all of them. There is a reason why all of your family had ended up in there. You're all half demon. Mayumi included." Rodriguez turned to the paperwork and shuffled through it. He found the information he needed and thrust it towards Hiroyuki. He took it apprehensively and, sure enough, the DNA matched the demon criteria. "Now, the topic of discussion, are you still up for having this baby now that your reason has become invalid?"

There was a pause before Mayumi stepped forward.

"I still want to have this baby. Never in my life would I have a baby for only one reason. I'm not wrong when I say that we can bring up a child in a good environment. We've never had trouble with having children since Ken grew up, but back then we weren't used to it. We had no idea about the half demon side of ourselves. Ken was a new experience for us and we've learnt a lot of new things by having him as our son." She watched as Rodriguez smirked, but he signalled for her to continue. "I want to bring up this soul and I wont have any regrets about doing it."

"So, that's final?" Rodriguez asked curiously. A strong nod from both of the parents and Rodriguez was almost satisfied. "Ah, sorry friends. One more little thing."

"What's that...?" They asked simultaneously.

"The previous owner of this soul..."

"Yes?

"Was Shouri Shibuya."

* * *

**A/N**

**Waaah, I'm so out of sync with this. Seems I can only write during school seasons, what a bummer. I had literally NO ideas over the summer and then BAM! We're back at school and I'm full of them. What is this...?**

**I caught up on some new animes during the summer though, so now I have more things to write for (No.6 and Uta no Prince-sama [both amazing in my opinion]).**

**BUT HEY. There's Yuuram in this one. ;) Ooh, I have an appointment with a paediatrician, hope he's as nice as Rodriguez...**

**I apologise for this being so late but like I said, summer made like Susan and totally Boyled my plot bunnies... Even though it wasn't hot. [was raining mostly]**

**Sorry for the awkward wording too (eventually peering up at Wolfram and swallowing hard) LMAO did anyone else get sick vibes at this? I'm 95% sure that I've read this at the end of at least 1 lemon scene... C'mon...  
**

**But thanks for reading! and reviewing if you do!**

**The next chapter will be the last most probably. And if people want, I'll do an epilogue for the end (since I did start with a prologue) but that's only if people want it. No point writing it if I could be finishing my other stories.**

* * *

**Review Replies** (afdgrgsg 10 reviews for 1 chapter? Thanks guys! :O)

**lilgurlanima**

Like, I totally didn't know what I was going to do for it, but in the end I had an idea. ;) And this isn't exactly how I wanted it, but I'm satisfied.

**Miyuki Meiru**

What's even worse is that WOLFRAM and MURATA along with everyone else is in white too! /shot

**StandingOnTheRooftops**

Thank you so much ;-; I like that song, I sing it on Guitar Hero sometimes XD Lyrical titles are kewlness though, haha! I've written some absolute crap in my life, so it's all good.

**Ninja Star Light**

I KNOW! D: ;-;

**Elle von Werner**

That makes me think of Prince of Tennis :/ 'Ryoma, become Seigaku's pillar of support' Know the one? If not, never mind. AND SO DO I. Psshyeah, Yuuri, we know you love him. And thank you! :D

**The CodeBreaker**

Gaah, I'm sorry D: Shouri is actually one of my favourite characters, and don't get met started on why I like Shoma... I don't know why I chose them, but I couldn't bring myself to kill Miko...

And thanks. To be honest, that part doesn't have much significance yet. YET!

**Yumi-chan Hamano**

Thanks! Yeah, maybe Miko was a little harsh, but remember, she's fan girl too and we all secretly want Yuuri to bow down to Wolfram or vice versa.

**Aihime195**

WHY, THANK YOU. :D

**klester1987**

Noo, thank you! :)

**Blood Masks **

:O Really? Thank you so much! Well I don't want to completely bum people out, and the happy parts are fun to write.

Not common? _/is feeling more unique/ _well, I've always been taught in school that detail in stories was a good thing to have (Once I wrote a full A4 sheet of paper just describing how nasty the classrooms walls were :/) But I always thought this fic lacked details :S confusion... Ha ha...

;-; I'm always worrying about characters being OoC, but thanks so much for reassuring me that they're not. (I especially worry about Rodriguez, cause he's not even in the series much, but plays quite a big role in this fic).

Haha, I make lots of mistakes, but I can't go back and change them at the moment. Planning on doing when the whole things finished though...

The funeral bit was kinda hard though, I had no ideas for that for ages. :/ and Miko is a fan girl inside too. ;)

No problem, long reviews = love :D LOVE ME MORE, PEOPLE! Thanks so much. (:

* * *

PS – I AM NOT A FREAKY FISH GUY. :)


	17. Is That How You Really Feel?

Accidents Happen 16 – Is That How You Really Feel?

* * *

"You're alright with this?" Rodriguez eyed Hiroyuki defiantly. "Chances are, if the baby turns out to be the same gender, it's looks may be the same as that of it's previous host. In other words, this baby could grow up to look like a copy of Shouri Shibuya – black hair, black eyes, right down to the glasses. Even if it's female, the same terms apply, there's still a chance of that happening."

"We understand... But what about the Shibuyas?" Kimiko whispered, more to the floor than anything else.

"The Shibuyas? Well, all I can tell you is that is baby will be yours. It's up to you whether or not you let them see the child when it's born... Though that does depend on their next big decision too."

"Big decision?" Hiroyuki edged into the conversation. He stepped closer to his wife and took her hand in his.

"Yes. With nothing left for them to come back to here, along with the fact that young Mister Yuuri is king over in Shin Makoku, don't you reckon staying there would be more reasonable for the two of them, if you were to consider thinking about their situation? No?"

"While that is true, what about everything they have on Earth? What about the lives they have here?" Kimiko squeezed the hand Hiroyuki had a hold of. She turned to look over her shoulder at him to see him smiling down at her lovingly. It was comforting to know she had someone who could support her, she couldn't help feeling sorry for Miko and her boy after what they had to – and are probably still – going through.

"Everything they have, and what would that be? Now that they have no family here, what do they really have? Materialistic things are nice to have, but wouldn't you much rather have your family? Knowing that Yuuri, he would do anything to keep his mother from leaving him now, and it's probably like-wise for her." Rodriguez rose from his seat and stood staring out of the window, his back to the couple. "They have a tight bond and now, because there is only the two of them, it's only going to get tighter. I presume they'll come back time and again to visit because of all the memories they've had here, but other than that there isn't much left for them here now." Rodriguez frowned. "But this is more about the baby's future, not theirs. Their life now is in their own hands, we have no control over it. What we have to do now is make a decision."

"We want the soul." Hiroyuki spoke rapidly, his voice void of reluctance.

"You are aware of the consequences the come because of that soul's origin, right? You are aware of the fact that because that soul belongs to the child who shall succeed the Maou of Earth, it shall have to follow that path the moment it starts to speak. Your child will have to be prepared for all that, and you are the ones who will have to help this child become prepared for it. Are you up for that sort of commitment?"

With two positive nods from the couple, Rodriguez was almost ready to believe them. All he needed now was to see the child grow up as it should. Hopefully, with the lasting connection of the soul, Shouri would somehow be able to encourage the child during it's life, although that was a little far-fetched.

Rodriguez gathered up the paper work that they had to sign in order to gain ownership of the soul, some contracts about confidentiality and a few more that needed their signatures for the hospital operation. They looked over the documents and signed them until the last one. When they were finished they handed the papers to Rodriguez along with the pen. Hiroyuki thanked Rodriguez and headed towards the door, leading Kimiko out with him. However, before he was able to reach the doors he felt her tug him gently, a silent plead for him to stop.

"Rodriguez, if we ever meet them again, they're allowed to see the child as much as they want." She gestured towards her husband and they headed out of the doorway in silence. Rodriguez stood and watched as Hiroyuki leant down and gave Kimiko a kiss on the forehead and then disappeared through the doorway of the room. After seeing them leave, he picked up the papers and his bag and was about to put them in when he noticed something.

"Aha... I forgot to show them that." He laughed to himself quietly as he peered at the bottled soul in his bag radiating bright white light. "I suppose it doesn't matter though, it seems as though they wont need to see it until the operation. It's not like seeing it would give them any encouragement now either, they seem pretty adamant in their decision." Rodriguez shoved the papers into his bag tidily and rummaged around for his phone. "Well, this just means that it's time to call Bob and tell him about my success." He dialled the number and waited for a response.

* * *

Yuuri and Wolfram lay still in bed beside each other. For Wolfram the night felt longer and longer with every passing second. He was waiting for Yuuri to make some sort of comment because he knew full well that his fiancé wasn't asleep. Yuuri had barely spoken a word on the long walk back. After getting soaked through with rain, they eventually reached the castle where they were immediately ordered to head to bed for the night. With no arguments against it, Wolfram escorted Yuuri to their room and gladly changed for bed himself. Regardless of being cold and wet, Wolfram didn't regret telling Conrad that '_He and Yuuri would be walking home together. Alone.' _and Yuuri didn't argue when he'd said that. The only thing Yuuri had done on the way back was stare at the floor and listen to what Wolfram was saying (although he didn't have much to say himself since Yuuri wasn't really paying attention). Yuuri hadn't even spoken to any one when they'd reached the castle. Wolfram was happy with the fact that he got to be the one there for Yuuri when he needed someone most though... But Yuuri's mood had been bothering him. Did Yuuri want him around? Did he want reassurance from Wolfram? It was hard to say considering Yuuri hadn't been thinking of anything but the recent happenings.

Wolfram could tell that Yuuri wasn't going to be willing talk about his current feelings, he only wished that Yuuri would at least let him try and cheer him up. Instead, Wolfram was left hanging... Ask Yuuri or wait until he's ready to talk? Well, he had to try something.

"Yuuri?" Wolfram whispered. It was almost lost to the sound of the billowing wind that had been picking up for some time now. He was pretty convinced that Yuuri didn't hear him, so he tried again but louder. "Yuuri?" But he still received no reply. Maybe Yuuri just wasn't up for speaking right now. It had been a rough day for him after all. Wolfram lay staring at the ceiling. He could feel Yuuri breathing next to him and if he looked, he was sure that he'd see his chest rising up and down and up and down under the quilts.

"Hm. All right then, I'll talk and you can just listen if you feel like it." Wolfram shifted in the bed, rolling over and turning to look at Yuuri. "I wanted to ask-" Wolfram was about to finish when he noticed Yuuri's body shaking._ 'Is he...cold?' _Wolfram though to himself. It wasn't surprising that Wolfram couldn't feel the cold as much as other people, he was a fire mazoku and they tended to have warmer bodies. "Yuuri, you're freezing! Come here!" Wolfram wasn't taking no for and answer and pulled the teen into his arms abruptly but as gently as he could. He held him close to his own body and he could feel the ripples of Yuuri's shivering through his arms. "Jeez, you wimp. Tell me about these things before hand. How long have you been like this?"

"...I'm...sorr..y..." Came a raspy, choked reply. Wolfram just held him tighter as his voice showed just how weak he truly was right now.

"Don't apologise..." Yuuri hid his face in Wolfram's chest. "Calm down, Yuuri... I'm worried about you. You're so..." Wolfram trailed off. He was trying to look for the right word. Weak didn't really work, in fact it was quite the opposite; had been incredibly strong the whole time... "...Different." Wolfram sighed and lay still, just listening to Yuuri breathing. He could feel his shivering decreasing gradually along with his warming breath ghosting across his sleepwear.

* * *

"You think the kiddo is going to be okay after all this, Captain?" Yozak was walking alongside Conrad as they made their way towards Gwendal's office.

"Yuuri has always been exceptionally strong, not to mention he has Wolfram around him most of the time. I can't see Wolfram letting him down, even then Yuuri wouldn't let everyone else down when given a choice." Conrad replied.

"That is true. Aren't you going to try and help him too though?" Yozak looked towards him and stopped. "I know you've been spending a'lotta time with me since he's been gone, Captain, but I come second to you when he's around. We both know how Wolfram feels about him, so don't you think it's time to give the two of them some alone time? I wouldn't be surprised if Wolfram was planning on putting the moves on him now whilst he's down and out."

"_Yozak_." Conrad growled. "Wolfram isn't like that and we both know that. Wolfram has never done anything wrong or inappropriate to Yuuri when the two of them have been alone in the past, if he had I wouldn't have been able to hear the end of it from either of them. He's going to be doing Yuuri more good than bad. Yuuri would probably prefer Wolfram over me in this situation anyway; to Yuuri, Wolfram seems his age because of the way he looks. The two of them get along like two high school boys."

"Hmm, I see your point." He didn't understand the part about them being 'like high school boys' but he didn't want to go into it, it was probably just an Earth reference that didn't mean anything. "Well, you know what they say 'Time is the best healer.' We'll just have to wait until he's willing to get back on his own feet." Yozak had the lead as Gwendal's office came into view at the end of the next corner.

"We both know that wont take much longer either." Conrad smiled to himself. Yuuri was going to be all right and – like Yozak had said – all it would take was time for him to be able to understand that himself. Conrad was willing to bet that Yuuri already knew that too, he was just slow when it came to making the first moves. There was more than that though; Yuuri had a big responsibility to fill. Things for Shin Makoku had started taking a turn for the worst when the news of Yuuri's disappearance had gotten out. Shin Makoku was Yuuri's stage and if he wasn't on it, there was no performance and little to see. In other words without their king, Shin Makoku was weaker and – even with the kings personnel as experienced as they were – there were chances that Shin Makoku could let its guard down and take severe blows. There were still many countries that didn't approve of the increasing mazoku-human alliances that needed to be dealt with one way or another, the larger ones in particular.

None of the king's retainers were ready to tell him about the recent uprisings though. There had been numerous reports of conflicts in countries bordering the mazoku lands between the two races and there had been no effort to stop them. Soldiers were too busy being kept on guard around the borders to keep the offenders out. There had been discussions about how to deal with them, but nobody was prepared to make a move without their king's orders. They all knew he had his own views and they were much different to their own. They had never expected to put a boy that was merely a child up on their throne and have him progress as he had. He'd surprised them all, never ceasing to amaze them with his naïve ways or rash ideas, his not-at-all-thought-out plans and especially not the coincidence that he was best friends with one of the people who was almost at the top of their hierarchy.

With no one but their king left to turn to, they were eagerly awaiting his recovery. They were able to breath a sigh of relief when Ulrike had given them the news that she had sensed his presence, Conrad was overjoyed. He wasn't prepared for the truth though, which wasn't unexpected because nobody assumed it would be as serious as it was. But Yuuri was back... And Conrad had a feeling he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon. It was no secret that Yuuri's family had close to no relatives on Earth, so there wasn't anyone they would go back to see. It would always be Yuuri going back to see his family, to make sure everything was all right. He'd come back days, weeks or even months after he'd left having only been with his parents and brother for around an hour. It made Conrad feel guilty. They had stolen him away from his life without his permission – even if he'd agreed to it himself in the past, there were still times when he was blatantly unsure of his decision. Sixteen years wasn't enough and he knew that from experience.

Yozak pushed open the large wooden doors that squealed at the rust on it's hinges. The castle was hundreds of years old and the people that inhabited it had grown used to it over time. Gwendal was sat, as always, in his chair at his desk. His hand was furiously tackling some paperwork and he didn't bother to look up at the two intruders. He already knew who it was, he was the one that had called for them.

"Gurrier, Conrad... How is he?" Gwendal's voice showed little concern, but that was common for him. He rarely ever showed his true emotions when talking about serious topics. It was easier to keep a straight face, that way everyone was satisfied... Somehow. Probably because it was reassuring to see at least one person who was able to stay calm and collected.

"He was stable when Lord Bielefeld escorted him to his room, but he doesn't seem to want to say much. We've decided it's probably better to give him some space before we put another burden on his shoulders and so we left him with Lord Bielefeld. It seems the two were together the whole time on Earth so it's not as if he can't tolerate him and apparently it's done the kiddo some good." Yozak yawned. "How are you handling the borders?"

Gwendal still didn't look up. "I see. In that case, we'll give him more time to pull himself together. I wouldn't want his emotions to be out of control when he returns to his position." Gwendal paused and finally looked up at the two of them. "The problem lies with the humans. Their leaders are stubborn and wont back down unless the receive some acknowledgement from Shin Makoku. There's not much we can do without His Majesty but as of now we are keeping their actions low profile. I believe that this will all die down after he returns to his position considering that our opposition are all well aware of what His Majesty can do when he lets his emotions get out of control. I'm sure in a situation like this there is no reason for him to hold back." Gwendal sighed heavily and fingered the wrinkles on his head to loosen up his frown. He pushed his chair back, stood up. "In the end, this will all depend on how he handles himself." Gwendal moved to leave the room but paused in front of Conrad. "I presume you will look after him." He said, almost a whisper before carrying on out the doors and down the hallway.

Yozak and Conrad watched him leave before turning to each other. Conrad smiled sheepishly "I don't think Wolfram would let me."

* * *

"Yuuri, are you sure you're all right?" Wolfram eyed Yuuri who was lying still in his arms. He stared into Yuuri's deep, jet black eyes. He was searching for a trace of lies, something that would tell him that Yuuri was trying to fool him. Yuuri's stubbornness prevailed though as Wolfram couldn't see anything that would give up the game. Yuuri nodded. He politely removed himself from Wolfram's embrace and sat himself up. He coughed to clear his throat before speaking.

"I'm fine, Wolf... Really. I don't want you to spend all your time with me. It's just been a rough-" Yuuri didn't know how long it had been, so he changed what he was going to say. "It's been rough and I'm sorry for putting this burden on your shoulders. I'll suck it up, I know that's what you've been dying to say this whole time; that I have a huge responsibility, that your king shouldn't act like this, that I'm not strong enough..." Yuuri trailed off. He didn't even know what he was saying really. He wasn't thinking straight.

"Yuuri, I get it. I haven't wanted to say any of that nonsense." Wolfram straightened himself up and leant against the pillows. He brought a hand up and rested it on Yuuri's cheek. "On the contrary, you've been incredibly strong and it's all right for you to act like this because _anybody_ would. The responsibility might be big, yes, but you still have a responsibility to be yourself." He let his hand drop and turned away from him.

"I've probably told you this already, but did you know Yuuri, that right now you're doing much better than I did?" Wolfram smirked at himself, at the memories he could see playing with him inside his head. "When I lost my father, my family must have gone through hell... I was so young. I didn't understand what had happened and no one was prepared to tell me. They _knew_ I was too young, but I didn't realise they were only trying to protect me from doing something stupid when I found out... Not that that worked. Hah." He looked at the shadows around him to avoid looking directly at Yuuri. The room was almost completely empty other than the two of them with just the bed, some decorative pictures on the wall, a rug and a wardrobe. The wind outside started to pick up yet again but Wolfram had a feeling that it wasn't going to rain at all. Not for another few hours.

"You-You did something stupid?" Yuuri asked shyly. Wolfram, still not looking at him, nodded briefly. Yuuri almost gasped, but he kept himself quiet. "What happened?" Wolfram turned to look at him curiously. "No- I mean... Sorry. I didn't mean to pry I just-"

"Shut up." Wolfram laughed at Yuuri, who was still fumbling over his words. "It wasn't anything that bad... Although I did almost get myself kidnapped and killed." Yuuri's eyes widened. "I was a bad child, don't look so shocked." Yuuri's expression softened into a smile.

"You were safe though, right?" He questioned.

"Of course I wa-"

"Because Wolf, if anything ever happened to you, I don't know where I'd be right now." Yuuri sighed and leant back alongside Wolfram. At the angle he was at, he couldn't see Wolfram's expression. He was avoiding him again. Was he...embarrassed? Yuuri didn't want to pin it on him, but it sure seemed like he was. "Wolf, you know I love you for everything you've done for me, right?" Wolfram almost jumped at his words, but the he realised the difference between what he'd said and what he meant.

"Yuuri, I know you're thankful, but you don't have to go that far." Wolfram said, a lump rising in his throat.

"No, Wolf. I mean it. Everyone here is like a family to me. I just need time, give me that and I'll... I'll give you whatever you want in return. Just allow me to find myself again and then let me find you." Wolfram turned to look at him with a powerful gaze.

Wolfram was starting to feel uncomfortable. What was it they called it? Butterflies? He was certainly feeling something and he liked it... but he didn't. It was weird – too weird – but it was a nice feeling too. What Yuuri was saying...Did he really mean- Or was it just him saying that Wolfram was someone he was good friends with? He hated it when Yuuri did that. He despised being put in the same league as his brothers. After years and years of being compared to them, after being the youngest and 'most beautiful', the one with the annoying tendencies, the one who would voice his real opinions whenever necessary. He didn't want to be that to Yuuri. He wanted to be a part of Yuuri that he couldn't let go of; a part that meant as much to Yuuri as it did to himself. Yuuri, to him, was worth so much more than his own life... If only he knew that.

"Don't say misleading things." Wolfram mumbled under his breath, no longer looking at Yuuri. "I wish you'd understand how much I hate that."

"Sorry, Wolf. I- I can't hear you when you mumble... I don't understand something? Is that what you're trying to say? If so, then tell me. Tell me, what is it that I don't understand? What do you want from me!" Yuuri yelled slightly too loudly. Wolfram's eyed widened and Yuuri could clearly see his shocked expression. He couldn't help but think to himself that he was glad; Yuuri could shout, that meant he'd gotten some of that lively energy he used to have back. "Wolfram. You have to tell me. You know I'm slow, you know I'm not the sharpest sword in the bunch, you _know_ that I'm naïve, slow...wimpy. Isn't that what you always say? I'm never going to know what you're trying to show me, so just please tell me." Wolfram slumped back against the headboard.

He sighed deeply before beginning, "I'm sure it's something you know already. You just haven't realised what it means yet." Slowly, ever so slowly, the words left Wolfram's mouth. "As for showing you, I don't think you'd let me even if I went ahead and tried." He didn't expect Yuuri to simply let him attack... But Miko did, so it was worth a try... He watched as Yuuri folded his arms as if he was throwing a tantrum and pouted.

"Try me." He said blankly.

* * *

Murata let his body sag in his chair. He was so tired, so worn out. He didn't expect the ceremony to take so much energy out of him. He let his head droop backwards and rest on the back of the chair and stared up towards the ceiling. But for some reason he couldn't fall asleep. He let his eyes drift closed slowly and took a deep breath in. He relaxed his body... but still nothing. He opened them and the hazy grey ceiling was right there above him again. Falling asleep was harder then it seemed so Murata decided he'd let it come to him when it was ready. He sat back up and looked at the child sleeping on the bed before him. He found him self wondering how she could stay so still in her sleep, although she was a heavy sleeper. He often wondered what she dreamt about; where did she escape to when her eyes closed for the night? Murata knew her dreams were nothing like his own, his were built off the memories in his soul and he hated it. He loathed the dreams of memories he didn't want nor need to remember; tragic memories, happy memories, traumatic memories, memories that he didn't even know existed, they were all there. It wasn't every night, but most nights were filled with his past.

But most of all, Murata hated dreaming about _him_. Every time he had tried to escape, they had still somehow always ended up together... He hated it so much, but he couldn't let him go. They'd always find each other whether intentional or not, he would say it was fate, but Murata would call it desperation. The longing to see each other was what brought them together...and he couldn't stand the feeling... He wanted nothing more than to let it go.

Murata's thoughts were interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping around his torso and embracing him. He knew who it was... It was the only person he didn't want to see.

"My Sage, you're thinking too much." He whispered into his ear slowly almost patronizing him. Murata lent into the touch. He was too tired to fight back and too fed up to show he cared. "Is there something wrong perhaps?"

"No... I just can't sleep." He removed himself from the hands on his waist and turned around to see the Great One standing behind his chair with a knowing grin on his face.

"There is something wrong..." The Great One sighed and walked towards him. "You know, there has never been a time when I couldn't tell what you're thinking," He threaded his hand into Murata's hair, looking down at the teen with a charming smile. "And you know you can tell me anything, so what is bothering you my sage?" Murata sighed and looked away.

"There's nothing bothering me and I'm _not_ yours just...please leave me alone...?" He didn't mean it to, but it came out as more of a plead. He gently placed a hand on his and guided away from his hair and back to his side. The Great One's expression sunk slightly but he wasn't about to leave.

"It doesn't seem as though that's the truth, your eyes are betraying you." He took Murata's hand and kisses it gently. "You know I only want the best for you my sage, so when there is something troubling you, I know. I want to be able to help you." He looked at him and smiled sadly. "I suppose you probably don't want me here and if it's that way, I'll leave you." He turned to walk away but stopped as he felt a finger brush against his hand. He stood still for a few moments and, when nothing happened, continued walking.

"W-wait..." Murata surprised even himself as he stuttered. "I don't want you to leave." He watched as the Great One freeze where he was and inwardly sighed with relief. "I... I don't know what I want right now; all I know is that I don't want you to leave. Not now." He could feel the Great One smirking and swallowed hard as he watched him turn around. The Great One walked towards him slowly and cupped his cheek in the palm of his hand.

"If that's what you want... I'm all yours." The Great One leant down and kissed him. It was soft and innocent at first until the Great One tried to deepen it. He pushed Murata against the wall with little force but felt a hand on his chest pushing him away. He stopped and leant his forehead against Murata's.

"I'm sorry... I don't want to..." He looked away and the Great One followed his gaze to where his sister was lying asleep in the small bed in the corner of the room. The Great One sighed and apologised. "No... It's fine. I want you to stay I just...don't want to go that far." The Great One nodded and took Murata's hand, guiding him to the other bed in the room.

"Well then my sage, let me stay here tonight. I will make no move to touch you, so please?" Murata nodded reluctantly and climbed into the bed and the Great One followed. He wrapped his arms around Murata's waist and held him close, kissing his neck gently. "Now sleep, my sage."

Murata closed his eyes and he was asleep before he knew it. The Great One smiled and closed his eyes too, not far from falling asleep himself. He was just about to doze off when he heard a noise behind him. He turned around to see Mayumi sat up looking at the two of them questioningly. The Great One smiled widely and put a finger to his lips. She nodded and giggled quietly. She already knew the story. She climbed back into bed and lay down, thinking back on the stories Murata used to tell her. She always figured that there was some deeper meaning in the way he told them to her... and now she knew.

* * *

**A/N **

**I know this took a while to get out and I have no excuses as to why. It just did. Real life has been interfering along with school and there isn't much I can do about that. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter, although I don't really think it's one of my best. **

**I apologise for the long wait and I assure you the next one will come much sooner~! I know I've said this a few times now but the next chapter will probably be the last.**

**Happy Christmas, for those that celebrate!**

* * *

**Review Replies**

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**You'll have to wait and see. I'm almost finished so it wont be long now~! (And thank you, I'm honoured that it was your longest. Just for me~?)**

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**Does this answer that question? ^^**

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**I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it _that_ sad. Gaah, the ideas part is infuriating because they come and go all the time...**

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**Thank you everyone who review and read~!**


	18. Home, Sweet Home

**Accidents Happen 17 - Home, Sweet Home.**

* * *

Yuuri sat still with his eyes focused on Wolfram. He looked unsure and somewhat scared. Yuuri expected that though; ever since Wolfram had followed him to Earth, there had been something different about him. It had taken a while for him to notice, but Wolfram was serious. He wasn't there just to drag him back unlike his first impression, he'd given him time to get used to the situation... And it had seemed as though Wolfram had needed time to adjust too. Each moment they had spent together, Wolfram was only thinking of how he felt and not about himself. He hadn't stepped out of line at all like he usually would, he hadn't made any moves towards him using being his fiancé as an excuse and he'd become a lot more considerate. It wasn't like the Wolfram he used to know at all. The Wolfram he used to know would have forced him back the first chance he'd gotten, instead he'd stayed by his side the whole time until he knew that he was ready to go back. Yuuri was...flattered. It made him shy to think of how close they had come in the space of a few days and it almost made him blush to think of how much time they had spent together... and then there was earlier.

Yuuri tried to stop himself from blushing, but it didn't work and Wolfram noticed instantly. He inched closer, as if Yuuri had just given him permission to, and caressed his cheek with his hand, stroking it delicately with his thumb. Yuuri blushed even more, but he didn't want to stop Wolfram. He had no reason to and he felt as though stopping him would only lead to problems. He watched as Wolfram's cheeks turned a light shade of pink as their noses almost touched and he felt his other hand resting lightly on his hip. He felt his eyes drift closed and the feeling of Wolfram's lips on his own. A new feeling arose inside him, in the pit of his stomach. He felt himself becoming light-headed, but only for a moment and, as his hesitation disappeared, he found himself slowly responding and kissing back. It was odd...but nice. Yuuri slowly wrapped his arms around Wolfram's waist as he became more comfortable with it, pulling him closer to himself.

It only lasted a few seconds before Wolfram pulled away. He panted softly, his cheeks pink and Yuuri's arms still wrapped around him. He leant his forehead against Yuuri's, their dazed eyes locked on one another. Yuuri looked confused but satisfied. Wolfram just hoped it was enough for him to understand. As his breathing returned to normal he let his hand fall back to his side and looked at Yuuri with a questioning gaze.

"...Yuuri?" Wolfram whispered. Yuuri nodded softly and tried to smile.

"...But what was that supposed to mean, Wolf?" Yuuri asked, shyly. Wolfram sighed and looked away before thinking of the next best thing. He raised his hand again and slapped Yuuri. Not hard, but not soft either. It took Yuuri a moment to respond, but he did by placing a hand over his cheek and gasping under his breath.

"Did that help at all?" He whispered again with a slight smirk on his face.

"Wolf..." Yuuri looked at him, his eyes wide and his hands trembling if only slightly. "...You want to...? With me...?" Wolfram nodded softly and took Yuuri's hand.

"There is no one else in this world – or your world – that I could want more than you." Yuuri didn't know what to say, so he said nothing. He looked down at their hands and blushed. "It might have been an accident at first, but I really have come to love you Yuuri..." He kissed his forehead and pushed his chin up with his fingers. "Don't avoid me, I'm serious. I really, really love you Yuuri."

"Wolf... I-" A knock at the door made Yuuri jump and he turned around and let Wolfram go abruptly. "H-hello?" Yuuri called out. As the door opened one of the castle maids came into view. She tried not to make it obvious that she had noticed the two of them looking rather... interrupted.

"Your majesty, I was ordered by Lord Voltaire to bring your food to your bedroom as he believes you would be more comfortable eating here instead." She wheeled a cart carrying a few plates of different foods. "He asks that you eat as much as you can, but not to force yourself."

"...Oh..." Yuuri nodded and gave her a weak smile. "Thank you..." He was about to get up, but an arm on his own stopped him.

"Don't get up, Yuuri. I'll get it for you." Wolfram spun round and pushed himself up off the bed then walked up to the maid. "I'll take it from here, thank you." The maid bowed and left the room swiftly, closing the door behind her. Wolfram pulled the cart around to the side of the bed and sat down on it, ready to hand a plate to Yuuri. "Which do you want to eat first?"

Yuuri shrugged and pointed at one of the plates. He didn't really care what was on it and decided that anything was better than not eating at all. He felt peckish and could use the meal. He watched as Wolfram passed it too him and tried to hold onto it, feeling tired and extremely unenthusiastic. Wolfram scowled at him slightly.

"If you can't hold it, how are you going to eat it?" Wolfram sighed and pushed himself backwards until he was next to Yuuri. He took the plate from him and set it down on his own lap. "But you should really ask for help when you need it, Yuuri. Don't feel obligated to try and do this all by yourself because there are others around that want to help you. We're all here for you and we want to help you. If you need anything, you need to learn to ask for it, it's hard for us if you're not even honest with yourself. If you don't say anything now, things could start to change in the future."

"...It's just a plate, Wolf..." Yuuri smirked as much as he could.

"It was just a slap, Yuuri." Wolfram smirked back widely and picked up the spork that was lying to the right of the plate. He spooned some of the rice onto it and held it in front of Yuuri's mouth. The curry looked and smelled just like the kind that Miko usually made and Wolfram couldn't help but think that it was probably her that had made it.

"He-hey... Why curry?" Yuuri gave him a weird look before eating it and watched him as he gathered another sporkful. Wolfram shrugged and held it up for him again.

"I don't know, you chose it. It was probably from instinct if you weren't paying attention." Yuuri nodded in response and sucked the sauce-covered rice off of the spork again.

Wolfram continued spoon feeding him until Yuuri started to refuse and inch away when Wolfram tried to force it down him. He shook his head abruptly and pushed himself away from him. He felt full despite not having eaten much and he felt like if he ate anything more, he'd probably end up being sick. He stopped refusing Wolfram and looked at him closely. He was pale and scruffy, but still had the same radiance as always.

"Wolf, maybe you should eat something..." Wolfram looked up at him with with a surprised expression. He was extremely pale and Yuuri inwardly smacked himself for not noticing earlier. Deciding to use his lack of observation as an excuse, he brushed it off and took the spork from his clutches. Needless to say, Wolfram wasn't prepared for curry to be thrust right under his nose. He cringed at the smell, it wasn't bad, but he hadn't eaten in a while and food just didn't seem appetising when he was with Yuuri. He wrinkled his nose and backed away.

"I don't want to eat anything, I don't feel like eating right now." Yuuri found that hard to believe and insisted that he eat it. If it was any other day, he would've just given up, but he wasn't going to considering how much Wolfram looked like he needed it.

"Wolf... Come on... Don't be difficult. If I have to eat, you have to as well." Yuuri pouted and crossed his arms. "You don't look to good and, for the record, I don't remember you eating at all when we were back on Earth. If you don't want curry, there's plenty of choice." Yuuri leaned over and took one of the other plates with what he thought was some sort of pork on it. "Here, have...whatever this is..." He passed it to him and watched Wolfram sigh.

"Fine, if it makes you happy..." In his head, Wolfram groaned before having a small bite of the meat. It was hard to swallow, but he ate it nonetheless. Yuuri smiled and put the half eaten plate of curry back on the cart. The room went quiet other than the soft sounds of the two breathing and, although almost silent, it wasn't awkward at all.

Wolfram stopped eating and dropped the spork onto the plate. He didn't feel like eating anything else and he'd eaten what seemed to be enough to please Yuuri. He put the plate back and fell against the pillows, closing his eyes in the process. It had been an eventful day and he was more than glad that it was over. He could hardly wait for the sun to come up and show the true beauty of his fiancé's smile. It was hard to see in a room that was dimly lit with a few candles, so he didn't feel like he was getting the full picture.

He opened his eyes again to see Yuuri lying next to him, staring up at the top of the canopy bed. His blue pyjamas were slightly ruffled and out of place, matching his hair. His arms were bent behind his head as he was lying it on them with one of his legs was crossed over the other. For the first time in a long while, he looked comfortable. It was a sight Wolfram had been hoping to see and he felt relieved. He rolled on his side to face him.

"You're not tired, are you?" Wolfram asked, secretly hoping for a 'no'. Yuuri shook his head and Wolfram sat up. "Then we should get this cart back to the kitchen; it'll do no good leaving it here all night and we're done with it, so..." He watched Yuuri sit up and nod, getting up off of the bed.

"I suppose so." Yuuri knew the maids would probably come by for it after they fell asleep, and he assumed Wolfram knew that too, but he felt flattered to know that Wolfram remembered that he preferred to do things by himself rather than have others do things for him. He stood up and wandered over to the cart with uneasy and messy steps. Wolfram, with more elegance, stood and took a hold of the handles and motioned for Yuuri to hold on too.

"Shall we?" Wolfram flashed a grin at Yuuri and he nodded in response. They started pushing it in unison and, as they reached the doors, Wolfram let go and opened it for Yuuri. "After you, your majesty." Wolfram only laughed when Yuuri frowned and they continued on down the hallway. It was quite a long way to the kitchen and the two found themselves pushing side by side until Wolfram stopped mid step.

"Hey... So, when is the wedding?"

* * *

Murata arose from the bed slowly with a pounding headache. The morning sun shone through the wide windows, letting light spill all over the room and right into his eyes. He rubbed them lazily and looked to his right, seeing the beds other occupant. The Great One hadn't woken yet and Murata didn't feel like he wanted to deal with him so early in the morning. Instead, he climbed over him as quietly and carefully as he could and laid the covers back over him. He scanned the room for Mayumi, but she appeared to have left already. He picked up his shoes and slipped them onto his feet, barely making any noise as he did. He sighed and walked sluggishly over to the desk on the other side of the room, retrieving his glasses and placing them in their rightful place upon his nose. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted and leaned back against the desk.

His eyes wandered over to the Great One, he was fast asleep, or at least that's what he wanted to think. The Great One's eyes were open and the content smile on his face wasn't one Murata had ever seen when he was sleeping. Murata wanted to run away, but what good would that do? He'd tried that already and it hadn't worked.

"Morning..." The greeting was flat, but it was the best he could do early in the morning.

"Good morning, my sage. How are you feeling?" The Great One sat up and deserted the bed, heading for Murata. His pace was slow and it gave Murata time to prepare his personal space before his strong arms wrapped around his body, pulling him into a gentle hug. Murata, regardless of his reluctance, returned the hug.

"I'm fine." Murata replied, not putting much effort into the conversation. He let his arms drop and flattened his wrinkled clothes. He hadn't intended on sleeping in them, but there hadn't been much other choice. "Can I ask for a favour?"

"Anything for you, my sage."

"Can you send me and May back to Earth?" Murata didn't want to be a burden but he knew that his family back on Earth would be worried if Mayumi and himself went missing without a word. Staying in Shin Makoku was fine, but they couldn't stay too long and he knew that. If he calculated right, they should have only been gone for a few hours. He expected that either his parents had only just noticed their absence, or they hadn't even noticed at all. It didn't matter though. He'd find out when they got back.

"I can, but you're not staying there are you?" The Great One seemed to pout, but Murata knew he wasn't _that _childish. Murata shook his head in response and the Great One almost sparkled. "Then when can I expect your return?"

"I'm not sure, but even if I tried to stay, you'd pull me back here without warning. I wont stay long. You know as well as I do that I find it hard to tolerate my parents."

"If you find yourself wanting to escape, my sage, you know what to do. Think of me and, as always, you'll find yourself back in my arms in no time." The Great One kissed him softly and smirked into it as he felt him kiss back. He pulled back and gave him a tender smile. His arms fell back to his side and he watched as Murata left him alone once again.

* * *

Murata gradually made his way to the maid's quarters as he tried to track down Mayumi. There weren't many places she could be, so he decided to just check them all. He was in no rush to get back and she hadn't hidden the fact that she quite enjoyed staying in Shin Makoku. He was about to walk through one of the doors to his left when he heard what sounded like a young girls voice yelling 'Kenny!'. He was about to turn around when something hit him with a strong force, knocking him to the floor.

"Ow..." He sat up slowly, rubbing the back of his head and fixed his glasses, pushing them back into place. "...Hey May..." He looked up at the young girl who was now sat on his stomach giggling. She looked down at her and her expression changed.

"S-sorry Kenny... Are you all right?" She pouted apologetically and climbed off of him. She offered him a hand and he took it and picked himself up.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Murata could finally get a good look at her. A smile appeared on his face when he noticed the dress she was in. "Hey, I've seen that dress somewhere, where'd you get it?" The dress was a light shade of pink with frills on the shoulders. The skirt lay flat, unlike the usual style and the fabric was silky. It took Mayumi a second to think about it, but she grinned widely and giggled.

"Gwendal took me to the castle yesterday because he said it was dangerous here. There were so many people and I didn't know what was happening..." She twirled slowly. "Yozak gave this to me. He said it was a smaller version of the types he likes to wear. Does it look good?"

Murata couldn't help but laugh. "Trust Yozak to have a spare dress, haha... It looks great on you." He patted her soft piggy tails. "I see the shrine maidens did your hair for you too." She beamed and nodded up at him.

"Yeah, they said they wanted to make me look cute, like a real princess!" Murata smiled again but remembered why he was looking for her in the first place.

"So you've enjoyed Shin Makoku?" She nodded enthusiastically and twirled again. "But you understand that we can't stay here, we have to get going and sooner rather than later." He saw her cheerful demeanour fade and her eyes became watery.

"But... I love it here. Everyone is so nice and... it's so pretty." She sulked and stared at the floor.

"I know May, but we have to get home. Mama and papa will be worried about us" He knelt down and she hugged him tightly. "We still live on Earth, but we can come back whenever you want." He stroked her hair gently" "All right?" He felt her nod into the crook of his neck. He pulled her into his arms and lifted her up off the ground.

He made his way to the main hall with Mayumi in his arms. She felt a bit better after Murata had said they could come back. She'd miss the clean air, the fresh smell of flowers in the gardens, the maidens who loved to do her hair, but most of all, she'd miss Murata's smile. She'd not seen him smile in a long time. She'd always know that, on Earth, he seemed to force himself to carry on. Whenever there was something he wanted to do, he never needed to try He was never the type of person to try and get along with others, their parents especially. Recently she could tell he'd been trying harder. She couldn't tell why. At first, she thought it could be that he wanted something, he'd never asked for anything though. Then she'd thought that he'd gotten a girlfriend or something that they wouldn't like but she later found out that wasn't true either because of all of the stories she'd told him. In the end, her conclusion was that if she never found out, she'd ask him herself.

As they entered the main hall, the first thing that came into view was the Great One and his striking blond hair that could probably light up the room all by itself. Murata put Mayumi down and she ran over to him and whispered something in his ear. A smug grin formed on his face, but disappeared when Murata came closer.

"I think we're all ready." He said. The Great One nodded and whispered something back to her before walking her over to a basin filled with water.

"I don't believe we need to do this formally, so I decided I'd ask the maidens to prepare this for you. You are free to leave... as long as you promise me you will come back."

Murata nodded with a sheepish smile. "I already promised you I'd be back. That was a long time ago but it still stands." He took Mayumi's hand and gave the Great One one last look before diving into the pool of water and being dragged back to their home.

* * *

They surfaced in a bathtub full of water and gasped for air. It was dark and their vision took time just adjust as they climbed out of the bath and slipped towels around their shoulders. It was quiet and the house was cold, causing Mayumi to shiver every now and again. She sneezed and Murata handed her a tissue. She thanked him and wrapped her arm around his.

"Kenny..." She whimpered and her voice was shaking. He shushed her with a finger to his lips and nodded. He took her in his arms again and abandoned the bathroom.

The look of the house was an obvious level of familiarity, but he knew it wasn't theirs; their bathtub was never filled unless there was someone using it. It was Shibuya's house but it was a weird feeling to come back to. The house was usually full of life, the smell of curry would waft up from the kitchen as they surfaced in the bath and they'd be greeted by an overjoyed Miko wearing an apron and a face beaming with glee. He'd miss that. It would no longer be Shibuya with him as they transported back to Earth and it was weird to think that the Great One could send the two of them back by himself, but he'd learnt not to question his abilities since their recent episodes.

He climbed down the stairs as cautiously as possible and headed for the front door after reaching the bottom. He placed her back on her feet and she stared at him with questioning eyes as he disappeared into another room. She felt uneasy being in a strange house, the darkness was getting to her as well. The air didn't seem right and it was hard to tell what time it was, though it was certainly after dark. From what she could see from her eyes adjusting as well as they could, there were no clocks around and she didn't want to move from the spot she was in just to look for one. She felt a wave of relief wash over her body as Murata appeared again carrying a folded coat with another draped around his shoulders.

"I'm sure Miko wouldn't mind you borrowing one of her coats. I don't want you to get sick when we go outside so you'd better put this on." He knelt down until they were face to face and wrapped it around her shoulders. "...And slip your hand through here..." She knew how to put on a coat, but she appreciated him helping her out considering how tired she'd felt after getting out of the bath. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and he pulled it around her chest before zipping it up and doing up the buttons on the outer layer. "There we go."

She gave him a small 'thank you' before being pulled back into his arms again. He left the house without making a sound. Mayumi was close to falling asleep in his arms and could barely feel the movement as he strayed down the dark, empty paths back to their home.

Murata knew they were home. The light from the windows gave it away, they never left lights on when no one was home. As he drew nearer he saw his father's car in the drive. How long had they been home? He shrugged off any lingering thoughts he had and headed towards the front door. He'd just let himself in stealthily and make his way up the stairs and try to avoid being heard by them. Much to his dismay, his parents were waiting for him to arrive and he couldn't escape any more.

"Ah, Ken... You're home... And Mayumi too..." Kimiko half-smiled and it was easy to tell that she was uncomfortable. Hiroyuki was more proud and stood up tall with a hand on her waist. She gestured for him to follow her and they walked, amidst the awkward silence to their living room. He sat Mayumi, who was barely awake but still with them, on the couch and sat down next to her. The adults stayed standing and were facing them not 2 metres away.

"Is there something you have to tell us?" Murata piped up. He knew it wasn't the time to try and be demanding to his parents, they didn't deserve that right now.

"Yes, there is. I want you to listen to your mother closely now, Kenichi." He nodded to his father and gave his full attention to his mother. She was staring at the floor and any confidence in here seemed to have completely drained as she stood, frozen on the spot. For a moment it was silent, but she took a small breath in and started to speak.

"I've... been taking trips to the hospital a lot recently and..."

"Because of the morning sickness and the pains you keep getting?" Murata interrupted.

"Mm, yeah..." She replied. "I've known what it was since the start but it's slightly more complicated now." She looked Murata in the eyes without hesitation and carried on. "I've been in contact with your old paediatrician about it too." Murata couldn't help but be a tad confused. He was waiting until she got to the point, but he had no idea of where she was planning to go from here. Was she trying to get him to go back and see Rodriguez?

"Actually, it's not about you..." She said, as if reading his mind. "It's about... someone else. We... were given the soul of Shouri Shibuya and we're going to raise him as our own child."

Murata couldn't help himself from gaping in disbelief. He watched his mother rub her belly gently.

With a hint of a smile on her face and a small peck on the cheek from her husband, she seemed to have a small boost of confidence.

"You can't tell right now but... I'm pregnant."

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_**The End**_

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**A/N**

**Yup, that's the end.**

**There will be an epilogue but I'm not sure when. I have to finish my other stories first, which I'll have a lot more time for in the near future. **

**So anyway, now that this story is over I'll be getting on with finishing my other ones and this one was a lot of fun to write.**

**There are quite a few mistakes that I've noticed when I've reread parts of chapters that I will get around to changing someday, so don't worry about them too much. I hope you can overlook them whilst you bare with me.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed over the course of the story and I'm sorry that my updation(?) has been so off. You're all really wonderful and I'd like to thank you again for sticking with me when I took my time updating and really for just reading the story even if you didn't review.**


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